CAndidAte ChArged with drunk driving remAins
RIMOUSKI Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée said Tuesday he will not ask an embattled candidate to resign after revelations that he was arrested and charged with drunk driving in July.
“He has the right to the presumption of innocence,” Lisée said, outside a rally in Rimouski. “There’s the police officer’s version, there’s Mr. Leclair’s version and he has a witness.”
On Tuesday, Radio-Canada reported that Guy Leclair, the Parti Québécois candidate in Beauharnois, was arrested for refusing to take a breathalyzer test during a traffic stop last July.
The officer reportedly spotted Leclair behind the wheel of his car, which was idling in a parking lot in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. He suspected Leclair had been drinking and asked him to take a breathalyzer test.
The officer stated that Leclair then refused and was arrested.
But Leclair, who is the incumbent in Beauharnois, is disputing the police’s version of events. In a statement released Tuesday night, he said he twice “obeyed” the officer’s request to take a sobriety test.
“I don’t deny that I was arrested,” he said. “However I maintain that I never, in any case, broke the law ... I did not refuse to take a breathalyzer.”
Leclair has a 2011 conviction for drunk driving on his record. He was fined $2,000 and his licence was suspended for a year. The PQ was unaware of his latest arrest until the Radio-Canada report surfaced Tuesday.
“I’m waiting on the facts, I’m waiting on the evidence,” said Lisée. “His lawyer is confident he’ll be cleared in this thing. Of course it’s serious, to be charged with drunk driving. We take it seriously.
“But we also have to give the accused the presumption of innocence.”
Leclair said he’s confident voters in Beauharnois will give him the benefit of the doubt.
“I will prove my innocence,” he said.
Earlier Tuesday, Lisée pounced on embattled Coalition Avenir Québec candidate Éric Caire, saying he had “no business” in politics over a separate scandal.
It was revealed last week that Caire took a $55,000 loan from a mayor in his riding while serving as an MNA for La-Peltrie. Caire borrowed the money from Émile Loranger, the mayor of AncienneLorette, to buy a house.
Caire claims the loan never influenced his decision making as a member of the National Assembly.
“He’s spoken about ethics for years, he’s Mister Ethics ... and you put yourself in a clear conflict of interest,” Lisée said after a campaign stop on the Gaspé Peninsula. “I’m sorry, but he knew what he was doing . ... There was a test of his moral compass and he failed.”
He demanded CAQ Leader François Legault turf Caire over the loan scandal.
Asked if he was trying to have it both ways on ethics, the PQ leader was steadfast.
“I’m not washing my hands of this,” said Lisée. “I’m letting the system play itself out. In Mr. Caire’s case, he admitted that the ethics commissioner told him he put himself in a conflict of interest.
“There’s no contradictory debate here . ... Caire admitted it. It disqualifies him from office.”
The PQ began its day on the Gaspé Peninsula, where Lisée promised to reform Quebec’s hunting laws to make it more accessible for working-class sportsmen.