Quebec's Chief Electoral Officer announced Friday that he has dropped an investigation into accusations made by former justice minister Marc Bellemare, citing a lack of evidence to back up his claims.
In March, Bellemare gave an interview saying that he had personally witnessed construction industry heavyweights handing envelopes of cash to Liberal party fundraisers in 2003 and 2004, which would be a severe breach of electoral law.
The mere mention of the illegal practice quickly became a black eye for the Liberal Party and it fueled attacks on the government from the Parti Québécois in the National Assembly.
Premier Jean Charest said Friday it was anti-climactic end to a story that cost his party a lot of political capital.
"He was quoted as someone who had all this evidence, the opposition parties just used it as if all of this was fact," Charest said. "Now, here we are, and what do you get? You get a press release saying they met with him and there's nothing to support what he says."
Elections Quebec tried to interview Bellemare immediately following his newspaper interview in March about the allegations, but the former minister refused to answer questions until ordered to do so by Quebec's Court of Appeal.
In October, Bellemare finally sat down with investigators from Elections Quebec so they could conduct their investigation.
After questioning Bellemare and analyzing his testimony, the Chief Electoral Officer has ended the inquiry, saying a page of personal notes Bellemare took was essentially all the evidence he had to back up his claims.
Investigators were not able to confirm Bellemare's interpretation of events, and could not determine if any violation of laws concerning campaign donations had taken place.
It was that same page of notes which played a big role in the Bastarache Commission into the nomination of judges, a completely separate matter which also involves Bellemare and Charest giving conflicting versions of the same events.
Retired judge Michel Bastarache is due to submit his report on the commission by Jan. 31, 2011.
There is also a defamation lawsuit launched by Charest against Bellemare and a counter-suit against Charest that remains separate from the electoral matter, but which involves the same cast of characters.
Also Friday, Bill 48 was unanimously passed in the National Assembly, creating sweeping new ethics rules for MNAs.
The new code of ethics will force MNAs and members of their families to declare all of their personal interests and holdings, will institute new conflict of interest rules that will govern what they MNAs can do even after they leave public office, and will also see the creation of a Commissioner of Ethics office that will administer the new code.
As a result of the bill's adoption, Charest will stop collecting the $75,000 annual salary he had been collecting from the Liberal Party on top of his government salary of $183,797 as Quebec Premier.
Charest was blasted by PQ Leader Pauline Marois back in March for the second salary, asking whether Charest is more loyal to Quebecers who pay his Premier's salary or to "friends of the Liberals" who pay his second salary.
