Former FTQ president ‘outraged’ journalists got hold of police wiretaps

The former president of the FTQ — Quebec’s largest labour group — told an inquiry into journalists’ sources Thursday he was disgusted after discovering in 2011 that police wiretaps of his phone conversations in 2009 had made their way into the hands of journalists.

“I was outraged. I felt, among other things, that it was unworthy of a society of laws,” Michel Arsenault said.

“That police can listen in on someone, I can understand that, but to then hand that over to journalists ... I’ve been in unionism for 44 years, I believe in a society of laws ... These are the methods of Mussolini or the KGB. I couldn’t believe my ears that they had handed my wiretaps to the press.”

The wiretaps in question occurred during a police operation dubbed “Diligence,” an investigation into the infiltration of organized crime into legal businesses, including the Quebec construction industry.

Arsenault was, however, aware that his phone had been tapped as early as May 2009, since a police officer notified him.

What’s more, Arsenault knew the Sûreté du Québec searched the FTQ’s Fonds de solidarité at the time he was president of the board of directors.

Arsenault complained about the leak to the SQ in December of 2011, feeling that since he hadn’t been charged with anything his privacy had been violated.

He was told he could not have access to his own wiretaps, so he could not understand why journalists were able to access them.

Two years later, with no response from the SQ, Arsenault wrote to then-public security minister Stéphane Bergeron formally requesting the leaks be investigated.

But just after Arsenault’s testimony, former SQ director Mario Laprise told the inquiry that it was his decision — not Arsenault’s letter — that sparked another inquiry into the origin of the leaks.

Laprise had already investigated the growing number of leaks to the press. He said he was extremely irritated to hear Montreal radio host Paul Arcand tell Arsenault live on air that he had a transcript of the wiretap surveillance carried out on him.

Saying a line had been crossed, Laprise ordered a second investigation into leaks to journalists, starting with the Arcand interview.

A third witness, retired SQ officer Marcel Lagacé, told the commission of a couple of blunders along the way.

A letter to the FTQ’s lawyer, André Ryan, was sent instead to his father Claude Ryan (former head of the Liberal Party of Quebec.) And microphones meant to listen in on a meeting with former FTQ president Henri Massé were set up in the wrong room.