The President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel returned the ball Thursday to the Public Procurement Authority (AMP), so that this monitoring body investigates the methods of TÉLUQ University, which uses public funds to delegate work of educational research.
“It is precisely the job of the AMP to check, so we will let it do its job, if necessary. […] On specific issues like that, it is up to the AMP, the choice to intervene,” declared Mr.me LeBel, whose Treasury Board Secretariat is responsible for the call for tenders processes.
Duty revealed Thursday that TÉLUQ used nearly a million dollars from schools to delegate educational research activities to a private company, GECA. A TÉLUQ call for tenders for services in schools was notably prepared by an education professor, Steve Bissonnette, who had links with the bidders.
Despite this, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, said that he does not question “at all” his confidence in TÉLUQ, whose short programs he often praises for access to the teaching profession. “What TÉLUQ tells us is that since the change of administration in [2018]the process for awarding contracts has been tightened and therefore, I am confident that TÉLUQ will enforce the rules for awarding contracts,” he declared.
Former TÉLUQ director general Martin Noël was suspended in July 2018 by former Liberal minister Hélène David, due to “irregularities”, some of which were linked to the Act respecting contracts by public bodies. Coming to power a few months later, the Coalition Avenir Québec then downplayed the matter. The then Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, affirmed that the matter had been “a little inflated under the previous government”. Mr. Noël was also rehabilitated in 2019, and he returned to a teaching position at TÉLUQ.
The call for tenders Duty reported was also signed in 2017 by two directors of TÉLUQ, Louise Boucher and Caroline Brassard. Mme Brassard was chosen by Minister Drainville in December 2023 to head a committee of experts. Since this committee was mainly supposed to approve training offered by TELUQ, its appointment was criticized by the deans and the opposition, who saw it as a conflict of interest.
“Red flags”
In the National Assembly, Solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal asked the government to investigate this matter.
The office of the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, saw no use in it. “One thing is certain: tender processes must be respected. We will not comment on the alleged facts at this time, but if necessary, we will let the competent authorities shed light on it,” wrote press officer Simon Savignac.
The interim Liberal leader, Marc Tanguay, said of the situation at TÉLUQ that it “raises legitimate questions about respect for the rules of ethics and transparency.” “A lot of red flags, it’s a case that raises a lot of questions,” he said.
“This is not normal,” also affirmed the PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. “If we send public funds to a private company with which we have collusion, and we make a profit on that, clearly, public funds are not used for research. It’s a governance problem. This is the job of the government to ensure, in terms of the use of public funds, that the objectives are achieved. »
MP Ghazal said she found “it’s very, very worrying what’s happening at TÉLUQ with this researcher.” [Steve Bissonnette] “. “It’s not the first time,” she stressed. “I would like Minister Bernard Drainville and the government, or Pascale Déry, to investigate the situation,” she insisted. She recalled having previously expressed concerns about short training courses leading to the teaching profession. “What worries me a lot is the quality of the training and after that, these training courses are based on research, like this, which is private,” she said.
The TÉLUQ short course includes courses on “effective teaching”. Mr. Bissonnette is conducting several research on one of its components, Positive Behavior Support (PSB). He also sells training to schools on SCP through his private company.