(Lac-Beauport) The Legault government is in the process of appointing former CAQ candidate in Sherbrooke, Caroline St-Hilaire, to the post of delegate of the Quebec office in Barcelona. A partisan appointment unacceptable in the eyes of the Liberals and the PQ, who accuse the Prime Minister of not delivering on his promises.
Posted 1:07pm Updated 2:06pm
François Legault is very seriously considering appointing Caroline St-Hilaire to this post of delegate abroad, the Journal de Québec reported on Wednesday, consistent with information received by La Presse in recent weeks. According to our information, this date is not planned in the short term, but will actually take place.
From a humble office, the antenna available to the Government of Quebec in Barcelona is elevated to the rank of “delegation”, an important assessment of the cost as well as the salary of the person appointed to the position.
When the announcement comes, the government will have a lot to do to explain that this decision was necessary and had matured for a long time. Last November, after the last elections, Martine Biron’s international relations department appointed an official to be in charge of a simple Quebec “bureau” for more than 20 years.
Sources close to these discussions show that Ms St-Hilaire, who had previously been a Bloc member for Longueuil, had first called for the much more prestigious appointment as Quebec Delegate General in Paris.
Then, realizing that this would not be possible, she had her eye on another post as “Quebec Delegate”, this time in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. As soon as she announced her candidacy, she told those around her that if she lost at Sherbrooke, she had the certainty of a parachute.
Tired of fighting, she recently accepted Barcelona with an upgrade at stake. The delegation positions in Paris and Dakar are remunerated at $197,000 and $175,000 per year respectively, with a company apartment and driver. Even less has the salary of the “office manager” in Barcelona not yet appeared in the list of the highest paid Québec administrators.
“Was that part of the deal? »
The former mayor of Longueuil and former member of the Bloc Québécois failed to snatch Sherbrooke from Québec Solidaire in the last general election. “Was that part of the deal? asks Liberal MP Monsef Derraji.
“It was part of the deal […] that if Sherbrooke ever failed as an MP and then as a minister, would there be a consolation prize of being appointed somewhere by the government? adds the spokesman for ethics issues.
PHOTO ÉRICK LABBÉ, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVE
Monsef Derraji
Monseil Derraji accuses François Legault of not keeping his promises when he pledged to end party jobs in 2018.
Parti Québécois MP Pascal Bérubé recalled that François Legault promised to end partisan appointments when he was in opposition.
“After his election, he promised in the House of Representatives that his administration’s first bill would be to end party appointments. He did not do it. The conclusion is that the CAQ government is no different from previous Liberal governments on this matter,” said the MP for Matane-Matapédia.
According to Québec solidaire, François Legault “could give course to Cynisme 101.” “He did what Justin Trudeau did about the voting system: he broke his promise. In the case of Caroline St-Hilaire, he did what Jean Charest did: an appointment as a gift to a friend of the party. People’s trust in our institutions has been weakened,” argued Parliament Speaker Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
Former Maurice Richard candidate Audrey Murray, also lost in October, was appointed deputy minister at the Department of Tourism in the autumn. Former mayor of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Jonathan Lapierre, who also failed in his attempt to be elected MP, was in turn hired as cabinet director to local affairs minister Andrée Laforest.
Faced with these situations, “the question arises” whether Mr. Legault would make promises to his candidates in the event of defeat in order to lure them into the fold of the CAQ, protested Mr. Derraji.
“Mr Legault has to be very transparent. […] We can’t hide, it’s a partisan appointment. […] He must honor his promise he made to Quebecers not to make more partisan appointments,” added the MP for Nelligan.
Caroline St-Hilaire was defeated in Sherbrooke while incumbent Christine Labrie retained her seat with 41.91% of the vote. The CAQ came second with 35.25% of the votes.