UPAC boss joins Ministry of Public Security

Photo: Karoline Boucher The Canadian Press Frédérick Gaudreau had been in office since 2019. He had two years left in his term.

Heading the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC) since 2019, Frédérick Gaudreau is leaving his position as commissioner to join the Quebec public service.

The former police officer will take up the position of associate deputy minister in the Ministry of Public Security starting September 3. The decision was made Wednesday by the Council of Ministers.

Frédérick Gaudreau had two years left in his term as head of UPAC, obtained following a two-thirds vote in the National Assembly. Contacted on Wednesday evening, the police force was unable to specify the conditions of the upcoming interim.

Mr. Gaudreau's mandate was notably marked by several departures within the UPAC workforce. In 2020, barely a year after becoming anti-corruption commissioner, he agreed in a letter that the institution was going through “an existential crisis,” undermined in public opinion by a series of aborted investigations and by the “reprehensible behavior of people who have now left UPAC.”

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Before taking up the position of UPAC’s top executive, Mr. Gaudreau, who had previously spent 20 years at the Sûreté du Québec, had served as interim for a year to replace Robert Lafrenière, whose resignation in the middle of election day — at the end of a stormy mandate — had made headlines in 2018.

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In 2020, Commissioner Gaudreau said that the Lafrenière era was over. “We’re not here anymore,” he said. “We work on our files with the utmost rigor, the utmost attention to detail.” »

For the past six years, in order to guarantee its independence, the big boss of UPAC must be appointed by a two-thirds vote of the National Assembly, like the director general of the Sûreté du Québec.

« Control act »?

Contacted Wednesday evening, the Quebec Liberal Party spokesperson for public safety, Jennifer Maccarone, deplored the fact that this announcement was made “on the eve of Labour Day.” “This big boss of UPAC, appointed by the National Assembly to guarantee transparency and impartiality, was replaced without any consultation with the opposition. Why this sudden change? ? We have the right to demand clear explanations. Is this an act of control over an independent institution? ?” she asked.

Québec solidaire MNA Andrés Fontecilla also expressed surprise that Mr. Gaudreau would join the public service before his term had even ended. “It’s paradoxical that UPAC is left without a director to fill a deputy minister position. Is the deputy minister position more important than the institution in charge of the fight against corruption? ? This speaks to the importance of UPAC in the eyes of the [Coalition avenir Québec],” he said in a written statement sent to Devoir.

The office of Public Security Minister François Bonnardel did not comment further on this decision on Wednesday, saying only that it would let “the process follow its course.”