The opposition is reassured to see the DGE investigating the financing of the CAQ

Photo: Jacques Boissinot La Presse canadienne «Ça me rassure certainement que le DGE fasse son travail», a dit le député libéral André Fortin, rappelant que le DGE a le devoir d’enquêter sur toute situation qui pourrait constituer un manquement à la Loi électorale.

The opposition parties were reassured to see that the Director General of Elections (DGE) opened an investigation into a financing activity of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) where the presence of a government minister had been put forward.

Liberal MP André Fortin recalled that the CEO has the duty to investigate any situation that could suggest a breach of the Election Act. “It certainly reassures me that the DGE is doing his job,” he said in a press briefing.

Monday, the DGE exceptionally confirmed that an investigation was opened into a fundraising cocktail where a bereaved couple was invited to meet the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, to ask her for tougher rules against drunk driving.

Until now, the Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly, Ariane Mignolet, had been the only one to publicly confirm that she was investigating the financing activities of two CAQ deputies.

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The co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Émilise Lessard-Therrien, expressed the hope of obtaining an answer on the existence or not of a system organized by the CAQ for its cocktail parties. financing in the presence of ministers.

“Of course that reassures us,” she said at a press briefing. What happened there was known to everyone and now that the DGE is investigating, we are happy to see that,” she said.

Parti Québécois MP Pascal Bérubé noted that the DGE rarely announces that it is opening an investigation. “It’s a surprise that it’s public,” he said. The DGE is not obliged to announce its investigations. »

According to Mr. Bérubé, there is an appearance of systematization of the presence of ministers in financing cocktails.

“There is a minister who comes to a region, who makes an announcement or who makes a visit, who meets with a group, then, in the evening, they do a fundraising activity, a- he said. This is the way to operate. »