Opposition seethes as EX-CAQ head named to government internet post
Two years after being compelled to resign as president of the Coalition Avenir Québec and drop out as a CAQ candidate in the general election, Stéphane Le Bouyonnec has been named to a high-profile post in the Legault government in a move the opposition is describing as pure partisanship.
Le Bouyonnec and the CAQ found themselves in hot water in 2018 after reports showed the party president was head of an Ontario-based loans firm charging rates of interest illegal in Quebec.
At the time, the Liberal government and Parti Québécois opposition jointly denounced Le Bouyonnec's business choices, saying his firm was profiting from the most vulnerable sectors of society.
The pressure became such that in August 2018 and in the middle of the general election campaign, Le Bouyonnec resigned as CAQ president and as the party's candidate in the South Shore riding of La Prairie.
However, as of Thursday, Le Bouyonnec is responsible as part of the Legault government's executive council for overseeing the development of internet services for the regions. The CAQ has pledged to provide high-speed internet access to all of the province by 2022, a promise far from being fulfilled.
“The issue of high-speed internet coverage for all of the regions of Quebec is a major priority for our government,” said Ewan Sauves, press secretary for Premier François Legault. “With his long track record in the realm of telecommunications, Stéphane Le Bouyonnec has the ideal profile to meet this challenge from within the government.”
But Le Bouyonnec's nomination has revived the debate over partisan nominations, the opposition accusing Legault of basing those nominations on his list of personal contacts.
“The 16th of December 2020 was not internet day but that of high-speed partisanship,” Liberal MNA Gaétan Barrette wrote on his Twitter account. “Le Bouyonnec named to one of the best-paying jobs in government.”
In a statement Thursday, Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-dubois said, “When Quebecers voted for change in 2018, I don't think they expected that the little friends of the Liberal regime would be replaced by the personal friends of the leader of the CAQ.”
Meanwhile, PQ Leader Paul Saint-pierre Plamandon took to social media to say that Le Bouyonnec's nomination was the 10th partisan nomination by the CAQ.
“You can't make this up: the former president of the CAQ, who was offering loans at usurious rates forbidden in Quebec, has returned to the CAQ fold.”
On Wednesday, CAQ co-founder Charles Sirois was named to the board of the École de technologie supérieure, while a former political attaché of the Action démocratique du Québec, a party that was eventually taken over by the CAQ, was named last October as a deputy minister of education.
The CAQ also recently named Denis Dolbec, chief of staff to Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard, as head of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux.
Legault's former press attaché Valérie Noël-létourneau is today councillor for special projects at the Quebec delegation in New York City. Noël-létourneau works directly for delegate-general Catherine Loubier, a friend of Legault.
Legault has repeatedly pledged to not engage in partisan nominations.