The government of François Legault announced on Friday the creation of a new category of volunteer ministerial assistants.
A total of 22 MPs were promoted to government assistant to government ministers, a position that did not previously exist.
This new function is not remunerated, unlike that of the 20 parliamentary assistants provided for by the Act respecting the National Assembly, whose appointment was announced simultaneously on Friday.
Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Ewan Sauves told the To have to that government assistants will have exactly the same responsibilities as their colleagues who receive an allowance in addition to their remuneration as MPs, as prescribed in the law.
“It’s the same function, the same responsibilities, the same influence, the same power with the minister,” he said. In the eyes of Mr. Legault and the government, there is no hierarchy between a parliamentary assistant and a government assistant. The only difference is that one is prescribed by law and the other is not. »
With 90 deputies and 30 ministers, the Coalition avenir Québec thus succeeds in offering more responsibilities to its elected officials who have not obtained a ministerial portfolio, he specified.
“We have come to create government assistant positions to be able to give each MP the possibility of having something that is close to his heart to defend”, he added.
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Despite the absence of remuneration in one case, Mr. Sauves assured that this will not create a two-tier system.
“Everyone has the interests of Quebec and the progress of the files at heart, I think that everyone is invested in this mission, honestly we don’t see it like that,” he said.
A 20% bonus, or $20,312, brings the total compensation for parliamentary assistants to $121,873. Their fellow government assistants have to make do with the basic allowance of $101,561.
A parliamentary reform promised by the government could provide for an increase in the positions of paid parliamentary assistants, indicated Mr. Sauves.
Three of the four deputies who were absent from the swearing-in of the Council of Ministers and who expressed their disappointment at not obtaining a promotion received the title of parliamentary or governmental assistant on Friday.
The MP for Saint-Jérôme, Youri Chassin, will notably be the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé. Gilles Bélanger, elected in Orford, will hold the same position with the Minister of Finance, Éric Girard, as indicated The duty this week. Both were parliamentary assistants during the last mandate.
The MNA for Drummond — Bois-Francs, Sébastien Schneeberger, who has served as paid deputy parliamentary leader for the past four years, will be government assistant to the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault.
Sylvie D’Amours, another MP absent during the swearing-in, is not one of the 42 MPs promoted on Friday.
Other parliamentary functions will however be assigned later, such as those of parliamentary committee chairmen in particular.
The list of appointments published on Friday shows that some MPs can combine the function of parliamentary assistant and government assistant, including Pierre Dufour, who reports to both the Minister of the Economy Pierre Fitzgibbon and the Minister of Culture and responsible for Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Mathieu Lacombe.
The formula varies for ministers. Some have two government assistants and no parliamentary assistants or even an assistant from each function.