Liberals defend minister from accusations of nepotism
Opposition wants minister ousted over allegations of nepotism
Transport Minister Laurent Lessard brushed off calls for his resignation Wednesday, after all three opposition parties at the National Assembly cranked up the pressure and called for his head over new allegations of nepotism.
Meanwhile, Liberals showed signs of impatience that their colleague continued to be the target of attacks in the house, for the second consecutive week.
“I’ve always acted correctly and honestly,” Lessard said from Toronto, where provincial transport ministers met on Wednesday.
The latest opposition attack revolved around a report published in the Journal de Montréal saying the employer of Lessard’s wife received $12.7 million in government grants between 2009-2012 for five social housing projects in the Thetford Mines area, Lessard’s riding. The money was handed out when Lessard was municipal affairs minister in the previous Liberal government.
The grants were part of the Accès Logis program and supported the Groupe ressources techniques Beauce-Appalaches (GRTBA), where Lessard’s wife, Johanne Binette, works.
The Parti Québécois and Coalition Avenir Québec both raised the issue in question period, implying the grants could be seen as favouritism, which provoked an emotional reaction from the government’s house leader, Jean-Marc Fournier.
“Shame on you,” Fournier said, standing up and defending his colleague. “You’re imposing on our loved ones a burden which was never part of our code of ethics: that of not being allowed to work. That’s what you want? That’s what you’re doing.”
“What you’re telling the 125 MNAs is ‘Divorce if you want to sit in the National Assembly; if not there’s no job for you,’ ” he said.
This is the fourth controversy to hit Lessard in the span of one month.
The PQ and CAQ have raised the fact that Lessard’s former employee and good friend, Yvon Nadeau, obtained a $3-million subsidy in July, the maximum amount he was eligible to receive, for his green-energy business, Pyrobiom. According to the opposition, Nadeau also helped a developer obtain a $1-million government subsidy to renovate the Adstock ski resort near Thetford Mines, and then got the contract to manage the mountainside cottages, while he was still working for the minister. And, the opposition alleges, Nadeau sat on the boards of two organizations that sought millions of dollars in government subsidies as well as tax incentives.
PQ MNA Agnès Maltais said Lessard “favoured in an abusive manner his great friend and employee by authorizing him to have (these) three other jobs which stemmed from government subsidies.” She also highlighted the fact that as transport minister, Lessard will be the one awarding most of the government contracts in the province.
“It takes popular pressure, questions from the opposition, it takes the total indignation of Quebecers for (the Liberals) to return to the minimum of ethical sense that is needed in this assembly,” Maltais said. “Will the premier relieve the transport minister of his duties while investigations are ongoing? It’s the minimum.”
The province’s ethics commissioner is currently investigating the Pyrobiom file. The CAQ has asked that Quebec’s auditor general also get involved and take a look at the bigger picture.
“When friends and family of Mr. Lessard’s are present, it seems to guarantee obtaining government subsidies,” CAQ MNA Simon Jolin-Barrette said. “Nobody has access this easily to government subsidies. It raises serious questions.”
Earlier in the day, Fournier told reporters that in Lessard’s wife’s case, there is no conflict of interest, not even an appearance of conflict of interest.
“First of all, it concerns a not-forprofit GRTBA which helps a community organization develop social housing for the disadvantaged and disabled, which receives subsidies from the SHQ (Société d’habitation du Québec) in what is a defined and standardized program, analyzed by bureaucrats” and not by politicians, Fournier said.
“Why should we presume there is a conflict of interest?” he asked. “Us politicians, we try to work for the people. So when our loved ones are blasted, it’s hard, it hurts. Maybe you (reporters) royally don’t care, but if we believe in democracy, at some point, a little respect would be fun.”