The government must immediately interrupt public funding for Éduc’alcool, the benchmark for informed consumption in Quebec which is today “discredited”, in the eyes of the opposition in Quebec, in light of the investigation published Thursday in Duty. The Liberal Party accuses the organization of “propagating pseudoscience” and of colluding with the alcohol sales industry.
Our investigation revealed the questionable links between the alcohol industry and the organization responsible for raising public awareness of responsible consumption founded in 1989. The investigation revealed the presence of several major players in the industry on the board of directors. of Éduc’alcool and noted that the organization’s main source of funding depends on a royalty on the sale of bottles.
In addition, several outdated information published on its brochures and its website minimize the risks and exaggerate the benefits of alcohol, to the point where Éduc’alcool found itself among the “worst in the world when it comes to misinformation” within a rankings drawn up by a British study published in 2017.
Request for accountability
“Unfortunately, the worm is in the apple,” worries the Liberal MP for Nelligan and official opposition transport spokesperson, Monsef Derraji. “What is the mission of Éduc’alcool? Promote the interests of the organizations that finance it or promote healthy lifestyle habits? »
According to him, the revelations of Duty raise the hypothesis that Éduc’alcool is “in the pay” of the industry on which the organization must carry out popular education work. He asks the government to put an end to its public funding and summons those responsible for Éduc’alcool, the SAQ and the Régie des alcools to come and explain themselves to a parliamentary committee. The Ministers of Transport and Finance, Geneviève Guilbault and Eric Girard, must also participate in this “accountability”, demands the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ).
“Do they agree that their government uses public money to finance an organization that does pseudoscience? asks the elected liberal. Funding must be stopped now and until the light is shed. »
“Apparent conflicts of interest”
The Parti Québécois and its leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, also believe that “public funds should not go there” as long as “the apparent conflicts of interest between preventing abuses then promoting the public interest, on the one hand, and the industry’s interest in selling more alcohol, on the other, are not resolved.” “We cannot claim to serve health and then the public interest, but to be financed by the industry which seeks to sell more of this product,” argues the elected official from Camille-Laurin.
“We should clearly review government participation in the financing of Éduc’alcool because, for the moment, it is serving the public,” underlines the solidarity MP for Taschereau, Étienne Grandmont.
The questions about the governance of Éduc’alcool arise at a time when the organization is one of the few to advocate for maintaining the status quo in terms of the blood alcohol limit tolerated behind the wheel. The SAAQ, in an opinion made public this week, argues that a limit set at 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood would save up to nine lives per year and “around ten serious injuries”.
The government is behind the current limit despite the advice of the SAAQ. Monsef Derraji accuses the Minister of Transport of “letting the SAAQ down” to “use Éduc’alcool, which is now discredited”.
In the corridors of the National Assembly, no government minister wanted to comment. Questioned by journalists, Lionel Carmant, Christian Dubé and Eric Girard all passed the ball back to their colleague in Transport. She walked through the door of the Red Room without answering any questions.
In the morning, at the microphone of 98.5 FM, Minister Guilbault nevertheless affirmed “that we can agree or disagree” with the credibility deficit raised by Duty.
“Éduc’alcool is an extremely credible player in matters of impaired driving and road safety,” underlined the Transport manager, welcoming the evolution of morals enabled by the organization since its founding. . “We have really come a long way from the days when people left with their beer between their legs, not strapped into their car. This is the result of decades of awareness, then evolution, then reflection,” greeted the minister.
HAS All one morningshe also defended maintaining the status quo. “We are doing a lot in terms of road safety,” said the minister. “Beyond 0.05, there are so many things that are done, that overall, […] It’s a set of things that will help us get there. »
A few hours later, the government voted overwhelmingly against a motion tabled by the liberal opposition which called for lowering the blood alcohol limit allowed while driving and which decreed that “the government’s only objective should be that of save lives.”