A Liberal cabinet minister hit back against questions about Hydro Quebec with a zinger indirectly targeting Parti Quebecois leader Pierre Karl Peladeau at the National Assembly Wednesday.
The exchange began when PQ MNA Bernard Drainville accused Hydro Quebec of acting like a “Shylock” by charging 14.4 per cent interest rate to customers in debt, a reference to a Jewish money-lender in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice whose name has become synonymous with penny pinching.
Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Pierre Arcand tossed the criticism back by noting that Videotron and Quebecor – both part of PQ leader Pierre Karl Peladeau’s business empire - charge 19 per cent in interest on overdue bills.
Peladeau was later asked about the exchange in a scrum with journalists. “He’s tossing any old numbers around,” said Peladeau of Arcand. “He’s taking citizens for imbeciles.”
Drainville later withdrew the term “Shylock” after the Speaker of the National Assembly Jacques Chagnon said it was “unparliamentary.”
