The governing Quebec Liberals voted Thursday in favour of an opposition CAQ motion that could prevent a sitting MNA from owning majority shares in a media outlet.
The motion was passed Thursday morning in the National Assembly by 84 votes to 22 votes against. The three Quebec Solidaire MNAs voted in favour of the motion, but Parti Quebecois MNAs - including Jean-Francois Lisee - voted against.
Interim PQ leader Stephane Bedard said that his party would oppose all changes to the code of ethics inspired by the current debate involving media baron and likely leadership hopeful Pierre Karl Peladeau.
Prior to the vote Premier Philippe Couillard suggested that the Liberals were supporting the bill as a means to eventually creating a parliamentary commission to study ethics rules.
“We’ll support this motion to show that we are concerned about this issue," he told a scrum of reporters in Quebec City Thursday morning.
“It’s not through the National Assembly or a bill that this will be settled but rather through a higher discussion on the issue,” said Couillard. The solution lies with the recommendations of a parliamentary committee to discuss the issue, he said.
“An ethics bill, changing rules in the National Assembly, is a complicated affair. Usually we’d like to do this through unanimity, a consensus but with the debate we have seen it doesn’t seem likely.”
PKP slams bill
The proposed legislation seems targeted at likely Parti Quebecois leadership candidate and media baron Pierre Karl Peladeau, who has condemned the initiative.
"A motion put forward by (CAQ leader) Francois Legault targets me personally," said MNA Peladeau. "If I become a candidate and if the members of the Parti Quebecois choose me as party leader and leader of the Opposition, I can assure you I will put my shares in Quebecor in a blind trust even though the law does not oblige me to do so," he said Wednesday.
In March Peladeau promised he would put his shares in a blind trust but he has yet to follow through.
Analysts and critics have pointed out the trust will be anything but blind, since Peladeau specifically wants the trust to retain control of his Quebecor shares.
"I am proud of the legacy given to me by my father," said Peladeau. "I want to leave this birthright to my own children."
PQ MNA Agnes Maltais is among those who attacked the motion, while Peladeau's possible leadership rival Jean-Francois Lisee said that he wanted to study the wording of the motion before commenting.
