PQ MNA expelled from caucus after alleged ethical violations
Parti Québécois leader Jean-François Lisée has expelled MNA Gaétan Lelièvre from the party caucus following allegations he accepted gifts from an engineering firm when he was director-general of the City of Gaspé.
Lelièvre has formally apologized for what he said was an ethical lapse but insisted he did nothing illegal.
At a hastily called news conference Tuesday following revelations in the Journal de Montréal, Lisée said his party has a zerotolerance policy in place when it comes to political ethics.
Lelièvre failed to inform the public and party about his past when he ran for office so he has been suspended from the caucus for an indefinite period, Lisée announced. He will now sit in the National Assembly as an independent.
“We are very concerned about all information or action which can be perceived as showing a lack of ethics,” Lisée said. “Nobody is questioning the quality of the work done by Gaétan Lelièvre for the Gaspé and his contribution to debates on the importance of regions.
“However, his actions nine years ago when he was directorgeneral of his city and his decision to not make public this information, which is damaging for him and our political party, has to be sanctioned.
“This is why I asked Gaétan to leave the PQ caucus today until further notice.”
At his side for the news conference, a contrite Lelièvre recognized he should never have accepted various gifts he was offered by the Roche engineering firm.
“I thus put myself in a position of an appearance of conflict of interest and this is why I want to apologize to the citizens of my riding, to my entourage and friends and my PQ colleagues and leader.”
He said the revelations in question were known to investigators at the Charbonneau Commission when he was put on the stand, and his error was to not inform the PQ given the new climate where ethical issues are front and centre.
“We have to be cleaner than clean,” Lelièvre said. “I reiterate my apology and regrets to all those around me who may have been bothered or angered by my actions.”
He said he understands Lisée’s decision to show him the door but repeated he did nothing illegal and always managed the public purse with the greatest possible rigour.
“Today I recognize I should have done more on the ethical level,” he said. “I accept the decision of my leader and understand it.”
Neither Lelièvre nor Lisée took any questions from reporters. The party’s move was swift and follows the uncovering of an email trail by the Journal de Montréal revealing a close relationship between Lelièvre and the Roche engineering firm.
At the time Lelièvre was directorgeneral of the city, Roche bagged, with no competition, infrastructure contracts in the Rivière-auRenard sector of Gaspé.
The project was worth about $50 million to the firm.
But a series of leaked emails dated between 2008 and 2009 show:
Lelièvre asked for and received a pair of hockey tickets worth $450 to the Bell Centre for his son.
He asked for and received help from Roche in the sale of his 14-person, 30-foot yacht for $39,000.
He used for free a Quebec City condo owned by Roche’s business development engineer Martin Lapointe.
He made attempts to rent an apartment he owned in Gaspé to employees of Roche.
Lelièvre has been the MNA for Gaspé since 2012.
In the old PQ government he was the minister responsible for regional development.
We have to be cleaner than clean. I reiterate my apology and regrets to all those around me who may have been bothered or angered by my actions. GAÉTAN LELIÈVRE
He told the paper later Monday he has said all he had to say about the matter in an affidavit to the Charbonneau commission.
He has never been arrested or charged with anything in connection with these allegations.
The revelations about a PQ politician by the Journal follow several weeks of stories about ethical transgressions by Liberals.