Funding of the CAQ | Towards cocktails without a minister

(Quebec) The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is preparing to resume collecting political donations in 2025 with an important change: ministers would no longer participate in fundraising cocktails.

The measure will be part of a proposal that will be submitted to CAQ deputies on January 21 and 22, during their meeting to prepare for the parliamentary session. This proposal aims for the party to resume its fundraising activities, interrupted for almost a year due to controversy.

The CAQ was accused in January of monetizing access to its ministers due to certain invitations to fundraising cocktails. Outraged that “doubts” were raised about his integrity, Prime Minister François Legault announced on 1^is February that the party renounced political donations and ended its fundraising activities.

This decision deprived the CAQ of nearly $1 million, according to its general director, Brigitte Legault.

The party plans to once again collect political donations, a reflection started in September. Brigitte Legault is preparing the proposal which will be presented at the caucus meeting in January. The executive council of the CAQ – of which the chief is obviously a member – is involved in the process.

“We are going to make a proposal to the caucus to see how we resume financing, in what mode, with what procedure,” explained Brigitte Legault.

She will “put on the table” the idea that ministers do not participate in fundraising cocktails. They would take part “only in free, not paid, activities”.

She thus wants to avoid any “perception that you have to pay to meet a minister” and “to settle a file”. “This is not true, and perhaps I would rather not take chances” by preventing the presence of ministers at fundraising activities, she said. The deputies meeting in caucus will be called upon to vote on this measure. The party will subsequently resume popular financing.

“Waterproof border”

The CAQ plans to resume collecting donations since M^e Ariane Mignolet cleared her deputy Louis-Charles Thouin in September. His case was at the center of the CAQ funding controversy at the start of the year.

The member for Rousseau had sent municipal elected officials in his constituency a message of invitation to a CAQ fundraising cocktail to discuss “various subjects that [les] concerns including road and public transport issues. He highlighted the presence of the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault. The contribution requested for the benefit of the CAQ was $100 per person. The opposition had requested an investigation from the commissioner, accusing the government of monetizing access to its ministers.

“If this case indicates a certain mix of genres between the functions exercised by the MP in this capacity and the partisan activities in which he may be called upon to participate, the commissioner nevertheless considers that the MP has not crossed the line which separates the partisan activities and activities related to the exercise of his office,” she wrote in her report submitted in September.

At the same time, M^e Mignolet announced his intention to transmit “guidelines” to political parties regarding partisan activities. She sent them last week – the CAQ was waiting for them to finalize its proposal to resume political financing.

These guidelines clarify ethical rules already in force. “When they engage in partisan activities, members of the National Assembly must put in place certain specific measures in order to draw at all times a watertight boundary between partisan activities and the functions exercised as a deputy or as a minister,” she wrote.

“In order to dispel any risk of confusion, members of the National Assembly should […] clearly indicate to citizens who participate in a fundraising activity that their files cannot be discussed or processed there, she continues. They should also make it clear to them that participating in such an activity or contributing to the financing of a party will not give them any privileged access to MPs or ministers. »

Earlier this year, the Director General of Elections of Quebec (DGEQ) emphasized that “the presence of a minister at a fundraising activity raises […] the risk that an exchange occurring within the framework of the activity could result in a decision having the appearance of constituting an advantage provided in exchange for a contribution.” The Parti Québécois then announced that, if it were brought to power, its ministers would be excluded from political financing activities.

The 1^is February, François Legault went so far as to suggest that all political parties renounce political donations and that their financing be provided 100% by the state, an idea which had been rejected by the opposition. “Private financing, that individuals come and give money to political parties, even if it is just to encourage us, there will always be doubt about the intentions,” he said. However, abolishing popular financing would be unconstitutional: the Human Rights Commission has already pointed out that this measure would contravene the freedom of expression protected by the charters.