National Post (National Edition)
Byelection tally in Quebec soars to highest in 30 years
15 in province since April 2014 at $500K a pop
MONTREAL • Death, palace intrigue and allegations of lies and corruption are at the centre of the highest number of Quebec byelections in more than 30 years.
The Oct. 2 byelection in the Quebec City riding of Louis Hébert will be the 15th in the province since Philippe Couillard’s Liberals formed a majority government in April 2014.
Ontario, by contrast, has had seven byelections since Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals won in June that year.
At roughly $500,000 a pop, byelections this legislative session will cost Quebec around $8 million, according to the province’s elections commission. And that sum doesn’t include so-called “transition” allowances given to some of the departing politicians.
Before November 2015, members of the legislature who left mid-mandate were eligible to such payments to help them in their career switch.
Yves Bolduc, the ex-education minister who lost Couillard’s confidence early in the Liberal mandate, pocketed $150,000. His staff — who were also put out of work when he resigned — shared another $150,000.
The high number of byelections — the most in one mandate since 1981-85 — forced the government to end the practice of automatic allowances. Now, only politicians who leave early for “serious” family or health reasons are eligible.
Julie Champagne, a spokeswoman for Quebec’s national assembly, said “it is up to the ethics commissioner to determine if the departing member satisfies the conditions to receive an allocation.”
Despite the change, nine members resigned this session before the new rules were adopted.
The most high-profile resignation came in May 2016, roughly 24 hours after a cryptic television interview involving Julie Snyder, the ex-partner of then-Parti Québécois leader Pierre Karl Péladeau.
Péladeau resigned the following day, saying he was choosing family over politics. He had been leader for a year.
Weeks later, PQ house leader Bernard Drainville resigned and soon after began co-hosting a popular Quebec City radio show, leading pundits to speculate his political career was hitched to Péladeau’s and sank as a result of him leaving.
Drainville had replaced Stéphane Bédard, who quit office shortly after Péladeau demoted him during a turbulent time for the party in 2015.
The Liberals haven’t had it any easier, with the Opposition strategically attacking the party on its key vulnerability: its past.
The Opposition has tried to pick off Liberal cabinet ministers by accusing them of corruption and being tied to alleged wrongdoings from the Liberal era of Jean Charest, whose party lost the 2012 general election.
Sam Hamad left cabinet in April 2016 after he was connected to a former Liberal fundraiser facing corruptionrelated criminal charges. The fundraiser, Marc-Yvan Côté, is awaiting trial along with various co-accused, including ex-deputy premier Nathalie Normandeau.
Hamad was cleared by the province’s ethics commissioner of any wrongdoing but he never rejoined cabinet and quit politics last April.
Former cabinet minister Jacques Daoust resigned in 2016 after perceived wrongdoing involving the controversial sale of Rona Inc. to U.S. hardware retailer Lowe’s. Daoust died last month. Additionally, a byelection was held after the death of Sylvie Roy, who was sitting as an Independent member of the legislature.