In order to “restore the confidence” of the population, CAQ ministers are open to reopening the law with all other political parties to eliminate popular financing.
The CAQ government thus reacted to the stories of political financing which are affecting its start of the session. Several CAQ elected officials have asked mayors and citizens to participate in fundraising cocktails, promising the possibility of meeting a minister there.
Since then, opposition parties have insisted that you have to pay to meet a CAQ minister and have contested the ethics of the Legault government. The Ethics Commissioner has also opened two investigations into two MPs following revelations.
At the same time, two new requests were sent to the Commissioner by solidarity worker Vincent Marissal. This time, it is deputies Yves Montigny and Gilles Bélanger who are targeted. Moreover, the opposition parties are happy that tongues are loosening and are inviting mayors to denounce.
The Minister of Democratic Institutions, Jean-François Roberge, complains that the opposition parties are carrying out a smear campaign. But, he is ready to review the law and eliminate private financing.
“If perceptions change and if the opposition wants us to reopen the discussion (…) If everyone says: let’s give up on public funding. If everyone agrees, well, I am ready to open this discussion,” he said.
According to him, ministers “are elected officials” and “deputies” who “want to contribute to the debate”.
The leader of the PQ, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, believes that this is an “attempt to diversion” from the CAQ. “The PQ is the party with the most popular donations and which mobilizes the most citizens. Crowdfunding is an important means of democratic participation and is not the problem here. It is the questionable practices of monetizing access to ministers that are,” he said. “All we ask of you is to stop the questionable ethical practices of monetizing access to your ministers.”
- Listen to the Lisée – Montpetit meeting with Jean-François Lisée and Marie Montpetit via QUB :
Listening, admits Drainville
The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, admitted that the ministers listened to the people who asked them during the fundraising cocktails.
“Of course you listen to him (…) He presents his file to us. We listen to him… It’s obvious that it happens,” mentioned the man who legislated so that political contributions were reduced to one hundred dollars when he was a minister under the PQ regime of Pauline Marois. However, he denied that this type of meeting could influence him and his colleagues.
“Do you think that this citizen comes out of the cocktail with his subsidy, his bridge, his hospital, his school? Let’s see, let’s see. So, were there any clumsy wordings? Probably yes. Then we will actually have to work on that,” indicated Bernard Dranville. “Then, we will see if the Ethics Commissioner can make suggestions.”
“The Chief Electoral Officer also, perhaps, can help us with that. But the hundred dollar system in Quebec is a profoundly democratic system. We started with donations of three thousand dollars, we brought that to a thousand dollars, then to a hundred dollars.”
Faintness
In the corridors of the National Assembly, the unease was palpable among the elected representatives of the CAQ. The member for the René-Lévesque constituency, Yves Montigny, defended himself following a denunciation by solidarity activist Vincent Marissal. An entrepreneur from the North Shore was also invited by his MP to participate in a fundraising cocktail to meet a minister. “I invited a good acquaintance to a fundraising activity,” he defended.
The president of the Treasury Board and former prosecutor of the Charbonneau Commission, Sonia LeBel, pointed out that “integrity is non-negotiable and that if there are adjustments to be made, we will make them.”
Prime Minister François Legault promised to take stock of this issue this Thursday.