MONTREAL -- Premier Pauline Marois is coming out swinging on behalf of her husband as opposition parties target his dealings with the province's most powerful labour union.
Marois says she is furious at the third-place Coalition for Quebec's Future party calling on her husband Claude Blanchet to testify at a parliamentary commission.
The controversy started after a wiretap was played at the province's corruption inquiry that suggested the Quebec Federation of Labour's president was ready to enlist the aid of the Parti Quebecois to help thwart a corruption probe.
In the 2009 recording, now ex-president Michel Arsenault is overheard saying the union has a "deal with Blanchet," a reference to Claude Blanchet, Marois' husband, who had business dealings with the labour federation's Solidarity Fund through a company he owned.
The idea was to use Blanchet to persuade Marois to bring the PQ on board, but Arsenault testified such a conversation never happened and Marois has said the PQ was never asked to stop an inquiry from happening.
The denials and explanations haven't stopped the opposition parties from questioning the ties between the QFL and the PQ.
Coalition Leader Francois Legault says Blanchet should be made to answer questions about the so-called deal before any future election.
But Marois says hauling her husband before a parliamentary commission is going too far. She also says Legault should stop with personal attacks.
For his part, Quebec Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard is rejecting the idea of taking Blanchet before a parliamentary commission, but believes the public deserves answers.
