Nothing interests Liberal MNA André Fortin less than reviewing the remuneration of MNAs, although his party supported the initiative of the Office of the National Assembly in this regard.
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“I’m going to be very honest with you, there, of all the files we could talk about this morning, there is none that interests me less than this one”, he declared during a press briefing in parliament on Friday.
The member for Pontiac maintains that he has no “particular point of view” on the question, because he does not believe that it is up to elected officials to dictate their own salary conditions.
The Office of the National Assembly (BAN) voted Thursday in favor of the creation of a committee made up of former Minister Lise Thériault, former PQ MP Martin Ouellet and a human resources specialist, Jérôme Côté, responsible for proposing a salary increase to deputies on April 11. However, it will be the elected officials who will have the last word and who will vote for their new remuneration.
The BAN’s initiative was supported by the CAQ and the PLQ, and rejected by Québec solidaire. With only three MNAs, the Parti Québécois only has observer status in this body.
Solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal expressed her discomfort Thursday with the formula adopted by the BAN which, according to her, ensures that elected officials are “judges and parties” on the issue of their remuneration. She also expressed that she feels pressure from the side of the government and the Liberal Party to form this committee.
If there are elected officials in a hurry among the Liberals, André Fortin is not one of them. “Honestly, as I tell you, this is not a file that interests me, that challenges me. I’m sure there are people in my political party and then in others who could talk to you more about it,” he answered when asked whether he fears that the increase in MPs’ salaries will be poorly perceived if the initiative comes from elected officials themselves.