The National Assembly's ethics commissioner has launched an investigation into the financing practices of CAQ MP Louis-Charles Thouin, just days after she announced she was investigating the case of his colleague Sylvain Lévesque.
• Also read: CAQ fundraising cocktail: MP Sylvain Lévesque targeted by ethics commissioner investigation
The launch of the investigation follows a request from Quebec Solidarity MP Vincent Marissal following the publication of a report by La Presse Canadienne that Mr. Thouin is calling on the mayors of his constituency to contribute to the CAQ fund in exchange for a meeting scheduled February 8 with the Minister of Transport Geneviève Guilbault.
“The alleged facts concern a message from the MP to the mayors of the Montcalm MRC inviting them to attend a Coalition Avenir Québec fundraiser in exchange for a meeting with a minister,” the commissioner's office tells Ethics in a Press release sent out on Monday afternoon.
However, the regulations of the Élections Québec state in black and white that a contribution to a party must be made “without compensation or consideration.”
In his application, Mr. Marissal questions the “apparent attitude of accountability that places Mr. Thouin in a situation where his personal interests could influence his independence of judgment in the exercise of his duties.” He also wonders whether MP Thouin has improperly favored the interests of mayors by giving them privileged access to a minister.
This is the second investigation to be launched into the funding activities of a CAQ MP in a matter of days.
Last week, the Ethics Commissioner announced that she would investigate the case of CAQ MP Sylvain Lévesque because an employee of his constituency office suggested in an email to a citizen that he should pay money to take part in a fundraising cocktail around the Finance Minister Eric to meet Girard.