Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press “What I want is for all the information possible to be made public,” said the CAQ prime minister, François Legault, in front of the journalists.
François Legault agrees with the leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ), Paul St-Pierre Plamondon: the veil must be lifted on the documents of the Grenier commission, which investigated the financing of the No camp during the referendum on the 1995 sovereignty.
This is what the head of government said on Tuesday when asked about the PQ's proposal to legislate to lift the notices of non-dissemination and non-publication affecting the work of ex-judge Bernard Grenier. The latter had analyzed the activities of the group Option Canada in the weeks and months preceding the referendum and had concluded that the No camp had committed more than half a million dollars in illegal expenses.
Tuesday , the Coalition avenir Québec and Québec solidaire (QS) have in turn expressed their interest in seeing all the documents resulting from the investigation of the former magistrate. “I agree that we go to the bottom of the case. We have nothing to hide, “said Caquiste Premier François Legault to reporters.
“Now I've asked people from the various ministries involved to look at what we have the right to do there. You obviously have to speak with the Chief Electoral Officer. We must also look at the constraints imposed by Commissioner Grenier. But what I want is for all possible information to be made public,” he continued.
QS parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois stressed the importance of making public this “information […] relevant to the democratic debate in Quebec”. “I think Quebeckers have a right to know what happened during the referendum,” he said during a press briefing.
Even the Liberal Party of Quebec was open to “doing this debate”, he who had campaigned for the No. “I think it's a very worthwhile approach. It is important. This is an important debate,” said the acting head of the formation, Marc Tanguay.
The PQ will table a motion this week to ask Quebec to legislate so that these documents so far kept secret are broadcast. “We have nothing to hide,” Mr. Tanguay also said on Tuesday. That said, the considerations that could be raised could be along the lines of “Are there fundamental legal rights to be preserved for certain people?” And so on. We will redo the debate when the motion is read.
Judge Grenier's investigation was conducted behind closed doors. The dozens of testimonies heard have therefore never been made public. Just like thousands of documents.
