The Department of Education’s political cabinet has promoted grants to some organizations under a $60 million program.
Non-profit organizations (NPOs) thus obtained this funding despite opinions to the contrary that had been formulated by civil servants, concluded the Québec Ombudsman after an investigation.
On Thursday afternoon, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, affirmed that his ministry had put measures in place following the recommendations of the Protector, who investigated on the basis of a complaint received in February 2018 when the Liberals were in power.
The minister then in office was Sébastien Proulx. After the election of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) in October 2018, the ministry reported to Jean-François Roberge.
A spokeswoman for the Québec Ombudsman said Thursday that the investigation was triggered following a report from a whistleblower within the ministry concerned.
“During our investigation, we saw irregularities in the administration of the subsidy program which totals 60 million,” said Carole-Anne Huot. It is not in the whole of the program that there were irregularities but in a portion. »
The Québec Ombudsman is one of the entities responsible for receiving reports made under the Act to facilitate the disclosure of wrongdoings relating to public bodies.
“We checked to see if any wrongdoing was committed and, according to our conclusions, yes this is the case,” said Ms.me Huot regarding this most recent investigation.
The conclusions made public do not give any details on the dates or on the program or the organizations concerned. According to Mme Huot, the objective is to preserve the confidentiality of the whistleblower(s). No investigation report was released. Only a press release sets out the conclusions of the process.
A few hours after its broadcast, Mr. Drainville, in office since last October, lifted the veil by speaking in turn in a press release.
“Criteria, guidelines and directives were established from April 2022 to frame and mark the program,” he said. To date, more than half of the recommendations made by the Québec Ombudsman have been implemented. »
Favorable treatment
According to the information available in the conclusions of the Protector, close relations between the office of the minister concerned and non-profit organizations led to several irregularities.
“The power to make a grant has been exercised inequitably,” the statement said. In several situations, organizations received preferential treatment. »
The program provides discretionary support to partner organizations of the ministry in carrying out projects that fall within the mission of the ministry.
Its budget is not accompanied by any objective parameter, criterion or indicator of admissibility. The ministry’s administration analyzes and follows up on requests from organizations. The Minister then has the discretionary power to accept or refuse the analysts’ recommendation concerning the granting or not of a subsidy.
As close relations existed between the firm and certain organizations, decisions were taken upstream by the firm to the detriment of the administrative processing of the request.
“Certain recommendations to the minister not to grant subsidies have been transformed into positive recommendations,” noted the Protector in his investigation.
Financial assistance was also granted to organizations that had not submitted a formal application or a project. Subsidies were granted when it should have been done by contract and vice versa, also notes the Protector.
Nine recommendations were made to the ministry concerned to strengthen the integrity of the political-administrative interface and ensure the impartiality of the processes leading to the granting of financial assistance.
“The Ministry affirmed that it acted in complete transparency with its staff and in respect of its analytical work,” reported the Protector. However, he acknowledged the proximity of certain organizations to the ministerial cabinet. »
More details will follow.