The candidacy proposed by the Legault government for former CAQ candidate Caroline St-Hilaire for the position of administrator of the International Organization of Francophonie (OIF) is a case of a partisan appointment worthy of another era, Québec solidaire and Quebec denounce Liberal party on.
• Also read: The possible appointment of Caroline St-Hilaire as Barcelona delegate is worrying
As Le Devoir first reported on Tuesday, our parliamentary office has received confirmation that Québec’s choice to fill the OIF’s number two position has been the ex-mayor of Longueuil.
Photo archive, AGENCY QMI (ANDRÉANNE LEMIRE)
The CAQ strong candidate lost to Caroline St-Hilaire in the recent provincial elections in Sherbrooke.
Another candidacy proposed by the Trudeau government would also be in the running.
On January 25, Le Journal reported that Ms St-Hilaire’s appointment as Delegate General of Quebec in Barcelona was under serious consideration.
In an SMS exchange, the main victim replied that she had “nothing to confirm or deny”. This hypothesis had been sharply denounced by the opposition parties.
Even though this time it is about a candidacy, since the Secretary General of the OIF Louise Mushikiwabo will have the last word, Marc Tanguay and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois remain outraged.
Tanguay and GND outraged
“In the days of Maurice Duplessis, we called it patronage, the appointment of people who are on the right,” the interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party condemned in a press conference.
Mr Tanguay criticized Prime Minister François Legault for doing exactly what he accused the Liberals of doing when he was in opposition.
“He denounced it loud and clear. And François Legault is doing the same today,” Mr Tanguay said, assuring that his party would no longer make partisan appointments if he were in power. “No, no, absolutely,” he vowed.
The LaFontaine member slams the CAQ for making “a deal” with Ms. St-Hilaire to run in the recent Sherbrooke election.
“You can’t say to strong candidates in quotation marks: Don’t worry, we’ll nominate you if you’re an inferior candidate. […] That is unacceptable in 2023,” says Mr. Tanguay.
“What I see this morning is that at CAQ we never really lose our elections. Even if we lose them, we win,” commented the Speaker of Quebec Solidaire Parliament.
“Madame Saint-Hilaire failed to evict Christine Labrie from Sherbrooke. Anyway, we still find him a good job, not even a year later. It reminds us of the great Liberal years,” added Mr Nadeau-Dubois.
“It’s not a direct appointment, but a kind of partisan appointment nonetheless. This is proof that the CAQ is a party to the transaction. »
The PQ notes “an improvement”.
For his part, PQ MP Joël Arseneau sees Ms St-Hilaire’s candidacy for the OIF as “an improvement” compared to the rumored appointment that sent her to Barcelona.
The PQ also submitted a motion to the National Assembly a few weeks ago to ask the government to “priority competence in their appointments” regardless of their membership in a political formation.
“I think the request has paid off: instead of making a political appointment to find him a hiding place, we have instead decided to submit his candidacy,” said the MP for the Îles-de-la-Madeleine.
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