Transaction was good business, bad politics, professor says
QUEBEC Whether former minister Jacques Daoust lied or not about his involvement in the sale of Investissement Québec’s stake in Rona is entirely besides the point and couldn’t matter less, argues a prominent management professor from Université Laval.
“To look at the Investissement Québec angle the way it’s been spun these days is not the appropriate way of looking at this,” said Yan Cimon, who specializes in strategic management.
“If you look at how these things are done — how can I say this nicely — it’s besides the point; it distracts from the main issue.”
A parliamentary committee heard Thursday that Daoust, the former Liberal economy, innovation and exports minister, knew that Investissement Québec was going to sell its 9.8-per-cent stake in Rona in 2014-15, but refrained from getting involved.
The sale led to Rona — a Quebec “jewel,” according to opposition parties — being bought by U.S. hardware giant Lowe’s in February 2016.
Daoust resigned from his cabinet post and as an MNA on Aug. 19 after repeating 11 times he had never been informed of Investissement Québec’s decision.
The sale to Lowe’s would have happened anyway, with or without the government’s involvement, Cimon told the Montreal Gazette on Friday.
“It was going to happen, because the offer was very interesting and the board had to consider it. The board would have had a tough time justifying to shareholders that it was against the offer, because it was a substantial increase from the previous offer (in 2012) and it was just a good business decision,” Cimon said.
Lowe’s offered Rona investors $24 in cash per share, in a deal valued at $3.2 billion.
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, which manages Quebec pensions, pocketed more than $400 million when it tendered its 17-per-cent Rona stake to Lowe’s.
“It’s not a negative thing — it’s actually a good thing that somebody else is interested in our companies. It means we’re doing something right,” said Cimon, adding Quebecbased suppliers now have the opportunity to “position themselves within the larger Lowe’s ecosystem.” “It’s a tremendous opportunity.” Still, opposition parties sniffing a political scandal show no signs of relenting in their attacks ahead of the fall parliamentary session. The National Assembly resumes sitting Sept. 20.
“Can a minister lie with impunity to Quebecers for months, and we’ll let him do it — we’ll let it slide?” asked PQ MNA Agnès Maltais on Friday.
“Is there an ethical sense at the Quebec Liberal Party? If the Liberals who sit on the legislative committee tell us they don’t want to hear from Mr. Daoust, then it will mean that we can lie with impunity, that they accept that a minister lied.”
“What is more dangerous,” added Coalition Avenir Québec house leader François Bonnardel, “is that there was a coverup at the premier’s office. The premier and his chief of staff knew perfectly well in June that the minister had not told the truth.”
Daoust told La Presse he has no intention of testifying at the parliamentary committee.
“Politics was not what I expected,” he told the newspaper.