The presence of former minister Tony Tomassi in the debate of candidates for the chiefdom of the Quebec Liberal Party in Laval on Saturday aroused a certain discomfort.
Tomassi, let us remember, was appointed Minister of the Family in December 2008, when Jean Charest becomes the majority again.
In May 2010, however, he was expelled from the Council of Ministers and the Liberal Caucus. At the time, for weeks, the piquist opposition pounded the allegations of favoritism in the granting of places in daycare.
But Jean Charest dismissed him more precisely due to a doubtful use of a credit card belonging to the BCIA security agency (whose boss, Luigi Coretti, had multiplied the pressures from a liberal minister in order to obtain a permit to carry firearms).
In 2014, Tomassi will plead guilty to accusations of fraud in connection with his cards of credit card. Three years later, he was also arrested by the SPVM in the process of soliciting a prostitute.
Who?
What was this radioactive character doing in Laval’s Sheraton on Saturday? Who does he support? I failed to reach the former minister yesterday.
The rumor: he would support Karl Blackburn. The two know each other well for having campaigned and evolved at the PLQ at the same time. Blackburn having been the chief organizer of the PLQ from June 2007, therefore during the December 2008 elections, where Father Tomassi – Donato – stood out as a liberal fundraiser. Subsequently, from 2009 to 2013, Blackburn occupied the strategic post of DG du PLQ.
Joined on the phone yesterday afternoon, Blackburn said he ignores whether Tomassi supports her or not. “Obviously Tony, he can do what he wants. But I don’t need him in my team. ” Would he be welcome in a PLQ of which he would be chief? “No,” replied Mr. Blackburn, a bit annoyed, dryly.
Would Tony Tomassi support Pablo Rodriguez? After all, the two know each other well for bleating the PLQ commission. Later, they will share superimposed constituencies for a time, Honoré-mercier at the Federal and Lafontaine at the Assnat.
Tomassi and Rodriguez met on Saturday and took a photo together, according to what the candidate’s entourage confirms. “If he said to Pablo in the ear:” I am with you “, I am not aware,” said Jacques Martineau, spokesperson for the former federal minister. Then he clarified: “Certainly, we do not request his official support.”
No mechanism
For the other three candidates, Marc Bélanger, Charles billles billion and Mario Roy, Mr. Tomassi would not be welcome in a PLQ they would run. “He has the right as a citizen,” nuances the Bélanger lawyer.
Unlike its federal big brother, the PLQ does not have a mechanism of “expulsion for life” of the party. In 2005, after the Gormery commission, Liberal chief Paul Martin had prohibited ten people from taking over their PLC card. Some of them are still campaigning at PLQ.
