The leader of Quebec’s Liberal Party admits he had suspicions of political scrutiny when UPAC and its commissioner Robert Lafrenière arrested ex-minister Nathalie Normandeau on Budget Day 2016.
• Also read: Nathalie Normandeau case: Former UPAC chiefs suspected of ‘grave misconduct’
• Also read: Lafrenière denies directing the investigation
• Also read: UPAC misconduct allegations: Lafrenière was afraid to leave ‘to hand the mop to the National Assembly’
At the time, Dominique Anglade was a member of the Council of Ministers and bore the title of Economy Minister. And yet, just days after the arrest of former liberal minister for local affairs Robert Lafrenière, his government reinstated his post as commissioner of the anti-corruption police.
“The question of whether it is policy to make an arrest on budget day. You can’t separate the two,” she admitted. “Of course it raises questions, but you must not base yourself on suspicions, you have to base yourself on facts (…) What I can tell you is that it was the government’s decision at the time, with the information it had at the time .”
According to legal documents released on Monday, the former UPAC boss is suspected of serious misconduct. Management allegedly orchestrated the release of information to the media.
For this reason, Nathalie Normandeau, who was accused of corruption at the time, obtained a stay of the proceedings.
Photographic archive Stevens Leblanc
Nathalie Normandeau
In June 2017, UPAC Commissioner Robert Lafrenière launched the Project A investigation to find out who leaked information to the media about his organization’s investigations, including one against Normandeau and Côté.
The BEI found that they came from Lafrenière himself, as well as from his right-hand man André Boulanger and other UPAC leaders.
Photo archive Pierre-Paul Poulin
Robert Lafreniere
Today, Liberal leader Dominique Anglade is completely questioning the usefulness and credibility of UPAC.
“It is clear that this is not what citizens expect from this institution,” she said.
Solidarity Manon Massé called the new revelations about UPAC a “scandal”. She believes that the CAQ government’s reformed Police Organization 2.0 must now produce concrete results.
“UPAC has not shown that it could, I would say, honorably discharge its responsibility, that is, to reassure the people of Quebec that corruption will not…be hunted down and punished. She didn’t prove that,” she said. “It’s about time for her to do that. There’s been a lot of change in the past few months… And to be honest, I expect something different in Quebec than a police force that is constantly investigating the police instead of investigating.”
The chairman of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, now expects culprits in this file.
“I repeat that it will take responsibility. We cannot, as we have seen in the past, turn a blind eye because in the end there is no one responsible, there is no one who pays the price, it is trust in our institutions,” the PSPP said.