MONTREAL -- The chairperson of the board of directors of Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins (CRCD) has resigned from her position.
Sylvie Lalande cited comments by Quebec Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon for fueling her decision to step down.
"He urged journalists to ‘see who sits on the CRCD's board of directors,’ insinuating that there was a conflict of interest for myself and another director,” she said.
Lalande is also the chairperson of the board of directors at Groupe TVA and vice-president of Quebecor’s board of directors.
"I have asked Minister Fitzgibbon to apologize for this unfounded prejudice,” she said.
“He has not only refused, but insisted, and even persisted in his accusation. I would have liked it to be different so we could both return to working for the Quebec economy. "
Lalande continued on to say that “the circumstances leave me no choice but to bring about legal proceedings to restore my reputation and repair the damage that has been done to me.”
She said the details of the procedure would be revealed in the coming days.
Fitzgibbon took to Twitter Wednesday evening to apologize for asking what he calls “legitimate questions” about her "potential conflict of interest."
He added it was not his intention to offend her.
On Tuesday, two senior executives left the financial group because of the massive data breach that affected all of Desjardins members.
In a conference call to employees, the CEO of Desjardins said: "trust is essential, and in the light of what happened, changes were made to the senior management team."
In June, the company revealed the personal information of nearly three million members was shared illegally by an employee--social security numbers, names and addresses.
But a police investigation found that all 4.2 million members of the financial group were affected.
The National Assembly appointed a commission--where the company president and others were forced to answer for the breach. But on Thursday the commission announced no recommendations on how to protect personal information.
CAQ MNA Ian Lafreniere had his personal data stolen well.
"For citizens like me that got their information stolen, we want a result," he said.
