The mayor of Saguenay finds herself in the hot seat. Julie Dufour received three statements of offense on Friday evening from the Director General of Elections of Quebec (DGEQ) for alleged fraudulent electoral maneuvers.
The accusations accuse him, in 2021, of having “attempted to obtain from Serge Simard that he refrain from applying for a position as a member of the council during the general municipal elections of November 7, 2021 by promising him some office , employment or other benefit.
The same finding was issued by the DGEQ regarding municipal councilor Jean-Marc Crevier for an alleged offense dating from February 9, 2021. Then, the third finding concerns the mayoral candidate, Jacinthe Vaillancourt. In his case, the alleged acts occurred on July 22, 2021.
Julie Dufour wants to contest and plead not guilty. She has 30 days to respond to these findings.
But the consequences of guilt could be significant, because the mayor would be declared ineligible to hold her office.
In an email exchange, DGEQ spokesperson Julie St-Arnaud clarified regarding the penalty that “the fine provided for each of these three offenses is $5,000 to $20,000. These offenses are considered fraudulent electoral maneuvers, which also result in the loss of electoral rights for a period of five years, including the right to do partisan work, to vote and to be a candidate in an election. For an elected person, guilt would result in disqualification from exercising the function of member of the council of any municipality. That said, this disqualification only applies if the person pleads guilty or is found guilty by the court.
In a video published on social networks, Mayor Dufour indicated that “these are falsehoods invented by political opponents Jean-Marc Crevier, Jacinthe Vaillancourt, Serge Simard and in particular by Ms. Josée Néron, who filed the initial complaint. This vengeful strategy against the mayor was orchestrated two years after the elections with the precise aim of harming her in her role as an elected official. The mayor will sue each of the individuals mentioned above for defamation, in order to defend her integrity. This attack is nothing more and nothing less than the fruit of political revenge. I will defend myself against these false allegations, without reservation and with honor.”
On Monday, three Saguenay municipal councilors called on the mayor to resign. Jean-Marc Crevier, Serge Gaudreault and Michel Tremblay expressed this wish.
Asked to comment, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, did not come forward, adding that she would follow the matter closely. “I leave him with his credibility,” the minister, who is also a CAQ MP for Chicoutimi, simply said about Julie Dufour.
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