Rules aren’t for PKP

The usual route followed by too many political leaders is to present themselves as humble servants of the people, progressing with time through various levels of self-regard until, after too long in office, they reach a level of arrogance that succeeds in repelling voters. Pierre Karl Péladeau, a man in a hurry, is skipping the opening stages.

Péladeau has only been leader of the Parti Québécois for three weeks but is already making clear he believes rules as they apply to lesser folk don’t necessarily apply to him. In a confrontation with Claude Bisson, the Quebec legislature’s legal counsel, he declared he no longer has time for Bisson, whose job includes advising members of the legislature on conflicts of interest.

“I will not consult him,” Péladeau fumed after his party launched a vociferous attack on Bisson, former chief justice of both the Quebec court and the Quebec Court of Appeal. “Is that clear? I can say it eight times, 10, 12, as many as you wish.”

The subject of his fury was once again his interest in Quebecor Inc., the media and telecom giant in which he remains the largest shareholder. The same issue has trailed Péladeau since he first entered elected politics a year ago, and has only grown more fraught since he was chosen as PQ leader. The conflict of interest between his corporate holdings and his political position is selfevident — Quebecor is the province’s dominant media entity, with 40 per cent of the market, and has major holdings in television, newspapers, cable and wireless industries. Péladeau has stepped down from his management positions and pledged to put his holdings in a blind trust, but with the stipulation the shares can’t be sold.

Bisson pointed out the obvious, that a trust that comes with a nosale provision isn’t blind at all. Should Péladeau become premier, he said, his plan would be illegal.

That set off the PQ, which ac- cused Bisson of being a stooge of the Liberal government, and of targeting Péladeau. “We’re not dummies,” said PQ house leader Stéphane Bedard in accusing Bisson of picking on Péladeau.

Such defensive outbursts have already become common in Péladeau’s short time as leader. He charged the Liberals with harassing him after they noted that Vidéotron, a Quebecor subsidiary, charges overdue customers 19.5 per cent in interest, considerably more than charged by Hydro-Québec, a PQ target. Soon after, the government received a letter from Quebecor chief executive Pierre Dion asking that the firm be left out of political debates, which Liberal House Leader Jean-Marc Fournier held up as yet more evidence that “there is no separation at all between Péladeau and Quebecor.”

On Wednesday, the Coalition Avenir Québec released documents showing Quebecor has 16 lobbyists in the government’s registry, while subsidiaries Vidéotron has 45 and TVA has 16. Should he become premier, Péladeau would thus have more than 70 of his own lobbyists lobbying him for favours to his firm.

That Péladeau nonetheless persists in defending his position underlines the extent of his sense of privilege. In March, a PQ colleague stooped so low as to suggest Bisson might be motivated by resentment that his son was once fired from a Péladeau-owned newspaper.

Péladeau maintains the government is pursuing a partisan vendetta against him. He may be correct in assuming the Liberals’ motives aren’t wholly objective. But he has only himself to blame for providing them with such rich material, and so fervently attempting to defend the indefensible. Péladeau can run his family firm, or he can try to become premier of Quebec. If he chooses the first, he is unqualified for the second.