PQ wants probe documents released

Party says there are lingering questions on how ‘No’ side spent money

Nearly 30 years after Quebec’s second sovereignty referendum, the Parti Québécois says there are secrets about how the victorious No side spent money that the public deserves to know about.

On Wednesday, the province’s legislature debated a motion introduced by PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon calling on the province’s chief electoral officer to release all documents related to an investigation into alleged illegal spending by the No campaign ahead of the 1995 vote.

“We don’t know exactly what we will find, but we’re doing it for the fundamental principle that moments like this one, where there are serious allegations of overspending, of the manipulation of electoral spending, it’s fundamental information that should be public,” St-Pierre Plamondon told the legislature.

The 16-month investigation that started in 2006 was overseen by retired judge Bernard Grenier, who concluded that two federalist organizations — Option Canada and the Canadian Unity Council — failed to report spending of more than $500,000. Those organizations received $11 million from Ottawa.

More than 90 witnesses appeared during the closed-door inquiry and more than 4,500 documents were entered into evidence. However, Grenier ordered all the evidence — including witness testimony and communication between the commission and witnesses — to be permanently sealed. That doesn’t make sense, St-Pierre Plamondon said.

“When we look at the United States, even the assassination of (former president) John F. Kennedy did not justify withholding documents forever,” he told reporters Tuesday. “So there is an issue of the search for truth, which is the foundation of our justice system and the operation of our institutions.”

The No side won the Oct. 30, 1995, sovereignty referendum by 50.58 per cent — a majority of 54,288 votes. That result kept Quebec within Canada, but the sovereignty movement never died.

There are many lingering questions about the 1995 referendum, St-Pierre Plamondon told the legislature, including about allegations that the federal government flew people into the province to vote in favour of Quebec remaining in Canada. The PQ leader also said it is still unclear who funded a large federalist rally in downtown Montreal before voting day. Grenier wrote in his report that he was unable to determine who funded that event.

Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, said the motion is a way for the PQ — which has three seats — to keep people talking about it.

“I think this move is about two things: staying in the headlines, and

More than 90 witnesses appeared during the inquiry in 2006

showing that they are the only ones in Quebec who have the street cred in terms of sovereignty,” he said Wednesday.

A vote on the motion is expected to take place Thursday.