Charbonneau’s right-hand man
Provides stoic counterbalance to his famous benchmate at the ongoing corruption inquiry
“His expertise in financial matters is a must for this type of commission.”
MARCEL DANIS
“At this point, do you know how many people’s testimony at this commission that you’ve contradicted?”
The question came seemingly out of nowhere on the afternoon of Feb. 21, and it appeared — at least momentarily — to throw Montreal businessman Nicolo Milioto off his game. The entrepreneur known in construction and political circles simply as “Mr. Sidewalk” had been on the stand at the Charbonneau Commission for four days, but prying useful answers out of him was beginning to seem like an exercise in futility.
“I haven’t contradicted anyone,” the witness finally replied. “I’m telling you ...”
But his interrogator cut in again.
“I’m asking you how many people you’ve contradicted. Because I can tell you that the tally, right now, is four.”
It was an uncharacteristically biting statement from co-commissioner Renaud Lachance, but the fact that he knew precisely how many people Milioto was calling liars didn’t surprise anyone. He had probably been keeping track. He had probably been keeping track of quite a few things that day, in fact, because there isn’t much that escapes the notice of Justice France Charbonneau’s oftoverlooked benchmate.
For two years now, Lachance has served as the judge’s right-hand man — literally, as he takes the seat to her right each morning at the inquiry — and he’s most comfortable and effective when confronted with numbers. Lots and lots of numbers.The sub-paragraphs and net profit margins that tend to leave everyone else glassy-eyed or tracking the speck of dust suspended in the air above their desk are the 53-year-old Lachance’s bread and butter. Whether unintentionally or by design, Quebec’s former auditor-general provides the perfect, stoic counterbalance to Charbonneau’s sharp retorts and famously mobile eyebrows.
“He more than complements Justice Charbonneau,” Concordia University political science professor Marcel Danis says of the pairing. “His expertise in financial matters is a must for this type of commission.”
Despite his key role, Lachance still enjoys a certain anonymity compared to Charbonneau herself. While the judge is rarely seen outside the hearing room and comes and goes each day through a back entrance, her co-commissioner can be spotted passing through areas open to both the public and the media — albeit still under the watchful eyes of special constables. The commissioners made it clear that they would not grant any interviews during their mandate, so Lachance is never asked to comment on the day’s events. He simply blends in, occupying spaces where Charbonneau — now a fixture on the front pages of most major daily newspapers — would stick out like a sore thumb.
“He’s not someone who’s looking for celebrity,” says HEC professor Paul Lanoie, whose friendship with Lachance extends back to their high-school days. “But he’s not totally anonymous, because in a bar or a restaurant ... it’s not rare for people to recognize him, to come over to speak to him. He’s recognized more than before, being on TV every day.”
Lachance was born in the Beauce region and grew up in a home of five children. A chartered accountant by trade, he holds a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics, plus two other finance degrees earned in Quebec. In 1985, he returned to his alma mater, HEC Montreal, as an instructor and went on to teach at the institution for nearly two decades.
“He’s been away from HEC Montreal for many years now, but any time he has an opportunity to come back, he comes to visit us,” says Jacques Fortin, another professor at the business school who has known the co-commissioner for more than two decades. “He’s a very warm person, which you don’t always see on television.”
Lachance was still relatively unknown — at least outside the business community — when he was named Quebec’s auditor-general in 2004. The move was somewhat unexpected given Lachance’s relative inexperience in the field, says Lanoie, but the transition proved a natural one — and not simply because Lachance is a known perfectionist.
“Something that’s less obvious about him is that he’s a real entrepreneur. He likes to make changes, to advance an organization. Within the auditor-general’s office, he pushed the organization forward on many levels.”
Among other things, Lachance chose to outsource many of the strictly financial audits to private firms, which he reasoned would allow his staff to devote more time to performance audits. Like his predecessor Guy Breton, he also pushed repeatedly for changes in the province’s accounting practices, arguing that huge annual deficits were simply being ignored in order to present a balanced budget. The government may not have liked it, but challenging an auditor-general’s authority in Quebec is tantamount to political suicide. For his part, Lachance made significant efforts to develop strong links with the members of the National Assembly during his tenure, but he never seemed overly comfortable dealing with the media. He once joked that the worst thing he’d confronted as auditor-general was “press conferences.”
Lachance’s public profile would increase once again in 2007 when he teamed up with his federal counterpart, Sheila Fraser, to expose $700,000 in allegedly fraudulent spending by Quebec’s former lieutenant-governor, Lise Thibault. Looking back, Fraser describes the probe as a necessary but “unpleasant” one.
“Neither one of us really wanted to do that audit,” she recalls. “We worked quite closely together on the messaging around that, and the issues that would be looked at. I always found him to be very thoughtful ... I think he really took the approach that (auditing) was about improving things.”
Lachance was the only provincial auditor to call Fraser to ask her advice after being appointed, and within a few years, he was being pegged as the front-runner to replace her in 2011. He reportedly thought it over, but decided to remain at his post in Quebec; a choice that ultimately led him straight to a hearing room on RenéLévesque Blvd.
France Charbonneau was named chair of the inquiry that was to bear her name in October 2011, and quickly came knocking on Lachance’s door. By that time, his staff had grown to 260 employees and he was overseeing a yearly budget of $26 million. But with three years left in his mandate, he agreed to step away from the office of the auditor-general and sign on to what was originally intended to be a two-year public inquiry with a trio of commissioners. It has since morphed into a 42-month behemoth shepherded by just two commissioners (Roderick Macdonald was downgraded to the role of an observer due to illness).
Lachance has been replaced on an interim basis by Michel Samson.
Outside of the inquiry, the co-commissioner’s friends describe him as a “bon vivant” who leads a simple and satisfying life. According to Lanoie, Lachance spends much of his leisure time with his wife (herself an accountant) and their two adult children, but heads out every Thursday night with a group of 10 friends to play badminton or tennis, then go for beers.
“He’s very animated in that group, and he’s always making jokes,” says Lanoie, chuckling. “And since he’s been hanging around with police officers, he’s got a lot more of them.”
The next year will very likely be another busy one for Lachance, as he and Charbonneau are expected to begin writing their final report, to be released in April 2015. With their 55th birthdays approaching, Lanoie and Lachance are also planning to take a trip to mark the occasion. They celebrated their 50th birthdays on Peru’s Inca Trail, trekking through the jungle for four days and visiting the famed ruins of Machu Picchu. Lanoie says their upcoming adventure will undoubtedly be equally challenging.
Lachance, after all, “never does anything halfway.”