Photo: Ryan Remiorz The Canadian Press François Legault and Gilles Bélanger, during a campaign event, October 3, 2022
After launching two investigations in the last week into funding cocktails at the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), the Ethics Commissioner rejects two complaints relating to government deputies, for lack of ” reasonable grounds.”
The office of the Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly will not study the requests from CAQ elected officials Yves Montigny and Gilles Bélanger. The latter were the subject of complaints from solidarity elected official Vincent Marissal since Wednesday for having issued invitations to meet a minister in exchange for a contribution of $100.
However, Commissioner Ariane Mignolet will not look into their case. “In addition to being targeted and motivated, a request for an investigation must clearly set out the “reasonable grounds” which, when analyzed objectively, allow us to believe in a breach,” explained its communications manager Anne-Sophie St-Gelais in a press release, Friday.
“The two requests for investigations in question are considered inadmissible since they do not contain reasonable grounds, based among other things on the Commissioner's jurisprudence, to believe that a breach could have been committed to the Code,” she added.
Two other CAQ elected officials, Sylvain Lévesque and Louis-Charles Thouin, were not entitled to the same treatment and are currently facing investigations by the commissioner for having allowed access to a minister to be dangled in exchange for amounts of money. money. This will have to determine whether the deputies have placed themselves in a conflict of interest.
Saying he is under attack, unable to accept that his “integrity” is being attacked, Prime Minister François Legault announced Thursday that the CAQ would renounce all popular funding until further notice.
Further details will follow.