(Quebec) The opposition condemns the Legault government’s decision to nominate Caroline St-Hilaire for the post of Administrator of the International Organization of Francophonie (OIF). After Barcelona, this is a “second attempt” to appoint the former CAQ candidate to a high office, they complained.
Posted at 11:24 am
The Quebec Liberal Party and Quebec solidaire strongly condemned what they call a “partisan appointment” when we learned Tuesday that the Legault government had proposed the name of the former mayor of Longueuil for the post of administrator of the ‘OIF. In January, Le Journal de Montreal announced that Ms St-Hilaire was considered an appointed delegate of the Quebec City office in Barcelona.
This possibility had brought the government repeated criticism from the opposition parties. Caroline St-Hilaire wore the colors of the Coalition avenir Québec during the last elections riding Sherbrooke.
“This is the second attempt to appoint her anywhere,” decried interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, Marc Tanguay. “In the days of Maurice Duplessis, we called it patronage, appointing people who are on the right,” he added, while vowing to end partisan appointments should the Liberal government take power.
It is well known that the Couillard government has made numerous partisan appointments in the past. The then CAQ had promised to put an end to this. “This habit of the old parties appointing their friends to important positions, prestigious positions, this habit still exists,” said Quebec Solidaire parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
“What I see this morning is that at CAQ we really never lose our elections. Even if we lose them, we win. Ms St-Hilaire hasn’t managed to evict Christine Labrie in Sherbrooke, it doesn’t matter, we’re still finding a good job for her, not even a year later,” he added.
It is not a direct appointment, but a kind of partisan appointment nonetheless. This is evidence that the CAQ is a party to the transaction and that a transaction took place between the CAQ and Ms St-Hilaire.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Speaker of Quebec Solidaire Parliament
For his part, Parti Québécois MP Joël Arseneau sees it as an “improvement” in the sense that the government “remains embarrassed” by offering the former bloc MP a position in which he does not have the last word. “Instead of making a direct political appointment, he does so indirectly,” he said.
“I find this process [de nomination], it’s quite obscure, it could be improved. But on a purely political level, the government has shown a certain skill, if you will, by doing indirectly what it could not do directly because it voted on a motion that prohibited it,” he added.
Quebec Minister for International Relations and La Francophonie, Martine Biron, declined to comment on Ms St-Hilaire’s candidacy when she arrived for Question Time on Wednesday.
Another candidacy, that of the federal government but whose name is not known, has been announced, according to a source quoted by the daily Le Devoir, who was the first to report the news of Caroline St-Hilaire’s appointment on Tuesday.
Ms. Biron’s office confirmed on Tuesday that the Quebec government “has been asked by the federal government to contribute to the process aimed at filling the position of administrator of the OIF.”