MONTREAL -- Quebec's minister of economy is defending himself against allegations of cronyism after he named a friend to head Investissement Québec – and he will earn significantly more than his predecessor.

Guy Leblanc takes over next week at Investissement Québec, the government arm that invests in Quebec businesses.

Leblanc is well-known in the business world, having served nine years as managing partner at the Montreal office of PricewaterhouseCoopers and serving as a director of Montreal International.

But it's his friendship with Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon that's raising a lot of eyebrows.

Fitzgibbon’s press attache confirms the two have known each other for a long time. Fitzgibbon sat as a member of the board for Leblanc's son's company, Move Protein, but stepped down after last October's election

Responding to why he hired his friend, Fitzgibbon said he knows a lot of people and Leblanc is the best candidate.

“It is what it is. I am connected to that community and of the list of the qualified people that would have been appointed to the job, to different levels I knew all of them,” he said.

Leblanc will replace Pierre-Gabriel Côté, whose pay with bonuses totalled $523,000 last year. With a new, enhanced bonus plan, Leblanc could make close to $1 million.

“I hope we will pay the top bonus because if we don’t, I made the wrong choice,” said Fitzgibbon.

Unsurprisingly, the opposition is unimpressed, arguing Leblanc’s pay is too high.

“It’s unfair for the taxpayers,” said Liberal economy critic Dominique Anglade. “I don't see any justification for it. When you try to recruit somebody that is working in a big organization, and you're trying to be competitive, I guess it's one thing, but we're talking about somebody that was, for all intents and purposes, retired.”

PQ interim leader Pascale Berube points out the CAQ is the party that long complained of others playing partisan politics and is now doing the same thing.

“The CAQ told us many times in the opposition, even in the campaign, that you didn't have to be a friend of the government to have an important job,” he said. “They decided not to follow what they say to the Quebecers, and I think it's major.”