The explanations provided Thursday by the Québec Ombudsman about the report on favoritism at the Ministry of Education do not hold water and are insufficient, according to former Minister of Education Sébastien Proulx, who had been splashed in this affair. .
According to Mr. Proulx, the fault of the Protector’s office is not limited to a communication error, as its president Marc-André Dowd argued on Thursday.
“The communications from the Québec Ombudsman were not ambiguous. […] Politics was mentioned directly. And yesterday he said it wasn’t. He said again and again that was not the case. I find it a pity that he does not apologize for it, ”he said on Friday morning on the airwaves of the program Since you have to get up of Cogeco.
Mr. Proulx still does not rule out suing the institution. “What was done by the Québec Ombudsman caused me worries, problems and probably harm as well. It allowed people to try to question my integrity. »
Two weeks ago, the Protector issued a statement regarding a damning report of patronage in an unidentified department. The communiqué reproached the “political authorities” and the office of the minister in question for having intervened to favor certain organizations in the granting of subsidies.
Relaunched by The duty, the Protector still refuses to apologize, but its president invites Mr. Proulx to “contact him if he wishes to speak to him in private”, indicated his press attaché, Carolane Huot. Concerning the nature of the errors made, the Protector refuses to “any new comment”.
The bleached politician
Mr. Proulx had been splashed by this affair after Minister Bernard Drainville revealed that the affair concerned the Ministry of Education and that we learned that the facts reported date back in particular to the time when he was minister.
Furious, the latter then declared in the media that he had nothing to reproach himself for, while strongly criticizing the work of the Québec Ombudsman.
Thursday, the president of the Office of the Protector returned to this affair by affirming that the policy was not ultimately covered by this report.
“There is no unfavorable finding targeting Mr. Proulx or any other political or administrative actor. Our only respondent was the Department of Education,” Dowd said.
“Given the reactions it has generated, I recognize that this publication has not made it possible to fully understand the intervention of the Québec Ombudsman in this case,” he also declared.