QUEBEC CITY – The Quebec National Assembly resumed sitting on Tuesday, with the focus shifting momentarily away from the Charter of Quebec Values and onto the Quebec Liberal party, whose offices in Montreal were raided by police.
“We’ve asked each of our present members if they had been met by police. Until now, none of them have been met. This is something I wanted to know,” said Liberal leader Philippe Couillard.
The province’s anti-corruption unit confirmed it seized documents from the Liberal headquarters last July. The grounds for the search are currently under court-ordered seal. Still Couillard was asked why he never publicly acknowledged the investigation was taking place.
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“Knowing that eventually it was going to be public anyway – either by the lifting of the non-publication by legal mechanisms or by the fact accusations could be presented,” Couillard answered.
The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) said it doesn’t understand why the search wasn’t publicized, as were the recent raids at Montreal city hall and in the offices of former mayor Michael Applebaum.
“When they did searches at Montreal city hall we had quite the opposite,” said CAQ MNA Jacques Duchesneau. “We had police cars in front of the building, people who were evacuated. Why is it that we had to wait three or four months before getting the information, that’s beyond any understanding.”
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“When my daughter was arrested June 6th 2012, everyone knew in a matter of 30 minutes, and they knew also the accusation, everything,” said Québec Solidaire MNA Amir Khadir.
It may be unclear why authorities kept the raid quiet, but one thing is clear said Khadir, the Liberals were involved in dubious fundraising activities.
“The Liberal party has really installed a corrupt culture of financement of their party.”
PQ Higher Education Minister Pierre Duchesne said Couillard owed Quebecers an explanation.
Québec Solidaire urged the Charbonneau commission to tackle provincial party financing as soon as possible, before a provincial general election is called.
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