Photos of construction officials laughing in the tropical sunshine served as a contrast to the tense atmosphere at Charbonneau Commission hearings on a bitterly cold Wednesday in Montreal.
The photographs, displayed during the testimony of former FTQ union boss Jean Lavallee, suggested that Lavallee had underestimated the number of cruises he had taken on the yacht owned by construction boss Tony Accurso.
Between 2001 and 2010, Accurso and Lavallee took a total of 27 trips together, always on Accurso’s dime.
Accurso’s yacht, which costs about $75,000 per week to operate, hosted Lavallee and a number of other bureaucrats, including the city of Montreal’s former director general Robert Abdallah and the FTQ's Louis Bolduc, who was on the board of the FTQ Solidarity Fund.
Lavallee has denied that Accurso was rewarded for his hospitality in the form of investments and other financial support, despite the fact that he received huge funding from the FTQ Solidarity Fund.
“I’m not ashamed of it,” said Lavallee. “Besides, we’re like brothers.”
Former Solidarity Fund staffer and current PQ minister Elaine Zakaib noticed Accurso’s competitors were always kept away from Solidarity Fund investments, and warned FTQ president Michel Arsenault about it.
“I don’t want this to get out,” said Zakaib on wiretaps.
The conversation, from April 2009, showed that an expense account scandal affected the union. On that subject, Zakaib is cautious, adding, “The less I know, the better.”
Three years later, Zakaib joined Pauline Marois’s cabinet, as minister responsible for industrial policy.
Wednesday's revelations led to an immediate Liberal call for her dismissal.
Former labour minister Lise Theriault says the fact Zakaib is now in charge of a dossier that involves public funds means it's time for her to step aside.
"She closed her eyes to a system of collusion," Theriault said.
Zakaib, meanwhile, defended her actions.
"I acted with integrity on this occasion and throughout my tenure as the head of the regional fund," she said in a statement. "My priority has been, and remains, economic development in the regions."
Zakaib won her first provincial election in 2012 after spending two decades at the fund manager in a variety of roles. Her name also came up last October as the inquiry listened to Quebec Federation of Labour-related wiretaps.
In a press conference late Wednesday, Zakaib added, "The liberals have the nerve to ask for my resignation when Mme. Theriault herself voted 11 times against the inquiry."
With files from The Canadian Press
