Liberal staffers hit with legal warnings from CAQ

The Coalition Avenir Québec has slapped another one of its ex-employees, as well as the premier’s chief of staff, with legal warnings urging them to admit by Friday to possessing confidential and highly strategic CAQ documents.

The CAQ alleges that Yan Plante, who now works for the governing Liberal party, transferred strategic CAQ documents over to his personal email on six occasions in July, including the day he resigned from the party on July 27 and the day after. The CAQ says those documents include the party’s agenda for the pre-session caucus meeting it held in August in the riding of StJérôme, which outlined its strategy for the fall session, as well as its electoral strategy for the upcoming by-election in that riding.

Plante was hired to work in the premier’s office on Aug. 15. His boss is Jean-Louis Dufresne, Premier Philippe Couillard’s chief of staff.

“Everything points to Mr. Plante having violated his obligation of confidentiality and loyalty,” said CAQ MNA Simon Jolin-Barrette. “Are these documents in the hands of the Quebec Liberal Party? We want to make sure that they never were, and will never be, communicated and shared around the premier’s office, executive council, cabinet, departments, and in the Quebec Liberal Party.”

In the National Assembly, Liberal house leader Jean-Marc Fournier said the Liberals don’t have the CAQ’s documents. A spokesperson from Couillard’s office said Plante would not comment.

Earlier this month, another former CAQ staffer, Frédéric Schautaud, who was applying to work for Economic Development Minister Dominique Anglade, was found by the CAQ to have copied internal documents. He apologized after being hit with a legal warning, and after much hesitation, Anglade terminated the hiring process.

“Once again, Philippe Couillard is showing he is always behind when it comes to ethics,” CAQ Leader François Legault said.

Responding to reporters on Wednesday, Couillard said Legault is trying to create a diversion: “Why do so many people leave his party? Why do so many people leave him? I will repeat the answer, because it’s the answer we hear when people from the CAQ talk to us, it’s because there is no room inside the party for people who believe in both Quebec and Canada,” he said.

Defending Plante, Couillard added: “All the checks were done; we don’t need to know anything about the CAQ. Mr. Plante does not talk about the CAQ with us. We’re happy to have him.”