THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF QUÉBEC DISCOVERS A POTENTIALLY ILLEGAL FINANCING SCHEME BY A PQ CANDIDATE
THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF QUÉBEC DISCOVERS A POTENTIALLY ILLEGAL FINANCING SCHEME BY A PQ CANDIDATE
For immediate release
September 6, 2018
LAC ST-JEAN - The leader of the Conservative Party of Québec and candidate in Chauveau, Adrien Pouliot, said that his Party had filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec regarding William Fradette, the PQ candidate in the Lac Saint-Jean riding who is facing the Conservative candidate Michael Grecoff. The Party has discovered that Me Fradette was actively maintaining a web site that was capable of receiving donations during the electoral campaign in a way that violates the Electoral Act (Québec).
Mr. Grecoff called on Me Fradette as follows: "We are in the middle of the election and the constituents of Lac St-Jean and I have a right to obtain a full and complete disclosure regarding this web site without delay in order to maintain the integrity of the election.” For the record, Mr. Michael Grecoff has spent much of his career in the world of financial compliance and regulation. He led the TSX Venture Exchange Market Surveillance Team in Vancouver and the Market Surveillance Team of Québec’s Autorité des marchés financiers.
For his part, Mr. Pouliot demanded that Me Fradette withdraw from the race until the investigation of the Party’s complaint is completed. He also insisted that Jean-François Lisée launch an internal investigation to clarify the involvement of other persons, within the Parti Québécois, who could have helped Me Fradette implement this potential electoral fraud. "Did the PQ organization encourage, advise, consent to or authorize this potential corrupt electoral practice during the electoral campaign?” he asked.
The Québec Electoral Act provides for sanctions for contraventions of the Act. Any person who, by act or omission, aids another to commit an offence is guilty of the offence. In addition, a judge may impose an additional fine equal to twice the illegal contribution for which the person is convicted. A person convicted of an offence that is a corrupt electoral practice loses, for a period of five years from the date of the judgment, the right to engage in partisan work, to vote and to stand for election and, for the same period, may not hold any office for which appointment is made by government decree or by resolution of the National Assembly.
Mr. Pouliot concluded that "Michael, whose roots in the riding date back to the immigration of his grandfather to Alma in 1917, has shown through his long and brilliant career that he did not tolerate fraudsters and that he deserves more than ever the confidence of voters the Lac St-Jean riding".
-30-
For more information, contact: Nicolas Boni-Rowe
Communications Officer of the Conservative Party of Québec for the 2018 election
514-774-2664