MP fined $1,400 for false accusation
Ex-NDPer Manon Perreault also on probation for year over mischief conviction
OTTAWA— MP Manon Perreault proclaimed her innocence Friday after being ordered to pay $1,400 and being put on probation for one year for a conviction on mischief.
“I’ve always led a quiet life and I’ve never done anything (wrong),” said Perreault, who has been an Independent MP since being ejected from the NDP caucus in June 2014.
“Being accused like this and being dragged through the mud from one end of Canada to the other is totally ridiculous,” she told The Canadian Press.
Perreault, 49, was found guilty last March of mischief for falsely accusing a former employee of theft.
Quebec court Judge Bruno Leclerc fined her $1,000 and tacked on $400 in court costs and a victim fine surcharge. The Crown had been seeking a fine of $2,500, while the defence wanted an absolute discharge.
Perreault is not ruling out running again in her riding of Montcalm, northeast of Montreal, and said she was approached to join other federal parties after her departure from the NDP. “You know, I never heard anyone in the Commons talk about this story,” she said. “It’s taken on inordinate proportions. No MP ever mentioned it to me. But all of this really won’t be the deciding factor as to whether I run again.”
Perreault was elected with more than 50 per cent of the vote in 2011as part of the NDP wave in the province.
Leclerc, who sits in the region encompassing Perreault’s riding, said granting her an absolute discharge would have undermined the public’s confidence in the judicial system.
He also wrote that Perreault undermined the link that should exist between the public and elected officials.
Perreault’s lawyer, Jean-Pierre Rancourt, said Friday he will appeal the sentence. He had already indicated he would do likewise with the conviction.