Eight months after the elections, the government withdrew local responsibilities from MNA Catherine Blouin, who risked finding herself at odds with her spouse who is prefect of the MRC Avignon.
When a municipality needs special financial support, mayors usually deal with their constituency MP. The mayor of Carleton-sur-Mer, Mathieu Lapointe, must for his part report to an elected official from the Côte-Nord, the deputy for René-Lévesque, Yves Montigny, whose riding is located 265 km from his home.
The government made this decision to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest, since Mr. Lapointe is in a relationship with the local MP, Catherine Blouin.
“This procedure only affects the administration of this municipality and the MRC,” explained the member for Bonaventure in a written statement to the QMI Agency, in which she also assures that she is “the deputy of all citizens. of [sa] constituency”.
The choice of Mr. Montigny to liaise between Quebec and the small town on the north shore of Baie des Chaleurs may seem surprising, since the member for the neighboring riding, Stéphane Sainte-Croix, is also part of the caucus of the CAQ.
However, it is the “municipal experience” of Mr. Montigny, former mayor of Baie-Comeau, which would have tipped the scales, it is indicated on the government side.
Course of action
The relationship between Catherine Blouin and Mathieu Lapointe has been an issue since the election campaign. Ms. Blouin then undertook to consult the Ethics Commissioner if elected.
“That’s what I did, and since then I’ve been applying his recommendations,” she said.
Nevertheless, the decision to remove responsibilities from the member for Bonaventure came several months after the election. A local radio in Gaspésie reported that Mr. Montigny would have been informed only a few days ago of his new tasks. But according to the government, these instructions have been in force since March.
Moreover, it is not excluded that this course of action still evolves over time. “It’s an ongoing process, elected officials can call the commissioner whenever they want,” we were told.
Catherine Blouin is not the only elected representative of the CAQ to be in this situation. Like her, Agnès Grondin is the Member of Parliament for Argenteuil, while her spouse is Mayor of the Township of Gore and Prefect of the MRC d’Argenteuil. However, the CAQ did not want to say if Mme Grondin was also relieved of responsibilities, confining herself to pointing out that she “also consulted the Ethics Commissioner” and that she “follows her recommendations”.
baffle
Over the past few months, the issue of renewing the Regional Initiatives Assistance Fund (FAIR) has somewhat heated the spirits in Gaspésie. Despite the requests of the table of prefects of the region, chaired by the spouse of Mme Blouin, this economic development program intended for Gaspésie and the Îles-de-la-Madeleine ended on March 31, as planned.
Last week, a local channel in Gaspésie suggested the existence of a disagreement between Mme Blouin and Mr. Lapointe in this matter.
On the side of the CAQ, we deny any link between the perceptions caused by the end of FAIR and the withdrawal of certain files from the member for Bonaventure.
“It was a standardized program, for which the prefects had to report to the minister responsible for the region, and not to the deputy”, it was explained.
Quebec even maintains that there has been “no file” since the election where the city of Carleton-sur-Mer or the MRC Avignon have had to make political representations to the government.