Former deposed MP Claude Surprenant, facing a reprimand from the National Assembly following allegations from a former employee who destroyed his professional life and family, is hoping to clear his reputation by publishing a book about his descent into hell.
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“I’m tired, I want to keep going. This affair took up important years of my life and that is where I wrote a book to put an end to it all,” explains Mr. Surprenant in an interview with our Parliamentary Office.
Turning his gaze to the window, he looks out at Parliament in the light of a rainy day. “It was very difficult,” he reflects. I never thought it would take this long.”
Claude Surprenant was elected deputy in 2014 and hired Julie Nadeau to his team at the county office to handle administrative duties. “She claimed to have studied law, and for me that was a guarantee of honesty,” he explains.
Former MP Claude Surprenant (here in Parliament) published on November 4th: “A false lawyer deceives the National Assembly.” Truth defended with courage”, published by Preztij. PHOTO DIDIER DEBUS SCISSORS
This decision would prove fatal. Back in August, Ms. Nadeau began making “irregular” transactions with the constituency office’s bank account. “She even signed checks for herself,” the former elected official says.
When the deception is discovered, Mr. Suprenant confronts his employee, who shortly afterwards goes on sick leave, by presenting a false medical certificate. On the recommendation of the leadership of the National Assembly, she is thanked a few months later.
Hellish spiral
But now the downward spiral began. Surprising was expelled from the CAQ caucus in January 2017 over irregularities in its MP spending and was reprimanded by the ethics commissioner a few months later for the same reason.
“The report was full of falsehoods, the commissioner had relied on Julie Nadeau. I told him this when he handed it to me in my office, but he told me that it was his job to prepare a report and that it was up to the elected officials to accept it or not.”
At the Salon Bleu, the result was clear: apart from the Quebec Solidarity deputies who abstained, everyone voted in favor of the report, making Claude Surprenant the first elected official to be reprimanded by the commissioner. “The worst thing was that the officers told me privately that they understood what I was going through,” he laments.
PHOTO DIDIER DEBUS SCISSORS
In his book, the ex-MP says he was able to count on the support of two CAQ colleagues: Simon Jolin-Barrette and Chantale Soucy. “They wanted me to be able to explain myself to the group,” he says. But more influential people have weighed the scales on the other side…”
Among these people, Claude Surprenant names Sonia LeBel, who was then an unelected advisor to François Legault. “I was amazed when I heard his defense [la gestion] Perceptions instead of the law,” he says.
A destroyed life
Since then, her presentation of the facts has been supported by a decision of the Administrative Labor Court and by the filing of criminal charges against Julie Nadeau by UPAC.
The consequences of Mr. Surprenant’s warning remain gigantic. After he was fired from the CAQ and lost in the following election, in which he stood as an independent, he subsequently struggled to find work because no one dared to trust him.
“Even today I have a company, but I stay in the shadows so as not to harm my colleagues,” he whispers.
As a result, the last few years have also been financially difficult for him. “I sold assets to cover my expenses and my income dwindled,” he says, demanding $2 million in financial compensation and a formal apology from the National Assembly.
But the worst part was the impact this story had on his family. “I separated from my wife and moved away from my children,” he says with a sob in his voice. “It was very difficult.”
The thread of events
- April 2014: Claude Surprenant is elected MP for the Groulx constituency. He hires Julie Nadeau as a political attaché.
- November 2016: A forensic accounting report finds that Julie Nadeau conducted 23 irregular transactions between August 2014 and November 2015.
- December 2016: Claude Surprenant fires Julie Nadeau. She will file a lawsuit with the administrative labor court.
- January 2017: Julie Nadeau claims in the media that Claude Surprenant employed political staff paid from public funds to carry out partisan work. Initiation of an investigation by the Ethics Officer. Surprises are excluded from the CAQ caucus.
- November – December 2017: The ethics commissioner blames Claude Surprenant.
- February 2022: The Administrative Labor Court recognizes that Claude Surprenant was right to dismiss Julie Nadeau.
- December 2022: Julie Nadeau is accused of fraud, perjury and forgery.
Excerpts from the book
“I lost many years of relationships with my sons, important years of their lives […]. I listened to my survival instincts. To this day, I am still in repair mode with my two children and my grandchildren. I’m hesitant to recreate that solid family nucleus we had.”
“The day after the UPAC charges were filed against my former employee in December 2022, I visited my mother’s grave to tell her what the promise that justice would finally be served meant to me. My mother had left this world while I was going through the worst crisis of my life, and I liked to think that this news would help her rest in peace.
“The Code of Ethics [des députés] “It is essential that we revise so that grassroots politics stop harming Quebec’s higher interests.”
