Opposition parties are calling on Premier Jean Charest to remove Riviere-du-Loup MNA Jean D’Amour from the Quebec Liberal caucus.
The opposition claims there are new allegations against the former mayor of Riviere-du-Loup, arising from a report by the Quebec lobbyist commissioner into possible breaches of lobbying laws related to BPR, an engineering firm.
Justice Minister Kathleen Weil said the identities of those under investigation must be protected.
“If you put all these names out in public you’re sort of condemning people without them even having been considered to have committed a breach. That would be a (…) very unfair system,” Weil said.
D’Amour was hired to lobby for BPR after leaving his position as mayor of Riviere-du-Loup.
ADQ house leader Sylvie Roy said BPR is one of the “big five” partners in government infrastructure contracts.
“I think this is a test for the Charest government,” she said.
The lobbying commissioner’s report has not yet been released because it is being reviewed by the director of criminal prosecutions.
A prosecutor will decide if charges will be laid. The commissioner indicated in a press release issued Tuesday that 27 of 84 possible breaches of the lobbying legislation could potentially be prosecuted.
Previous problems
D’Amour took over the seat vacated by former ADQ leader Mario Dumont in a by-election last June.
By the fall, he was removed from of the Liberal caucus because he was under suspicion of illegal campaign funding.
Following a police investigation, the chief electoral officer cleared D’Amour of any wrongdoing and he returned to the Liberal caucus.
PQ MNA Agnes Maltais argued that Charest should not have welcomed D’Amour back into the caucus without seeing the report from the lobbying commissioner.
A spokesperson for D’Amour claims he has acted according to the rules.
“If he is still inside the caucus (…) it looks like the government approves his attitude (and) his conduct. We want to se the part of the report which is about M. D'Amour,” Maltais said.
