No harm, no fowl? Quebec minister says invitation to private pheasant hunt was above board

Quebec Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon says there's no need for reproach regarding his participation in a pheasant-hunting trip on a private island.

In a press scrum Thursday morning, Fitzgibbon said that while the matter concerns his private life, he has agreed to an investigation by the Ethics Commissioner.

The investigation, requested by the Opposition, would be the Ethics Commissioner's sixth probe related to Fitzgibbon in four years.

In October, the minister took a hunting trip to a private club attended by business people who received grants.

It was a prestigious, invitation-only hunt in traditional Austrian costume on Province Island in Lake Memphremagog.

Fitzgibbon said he's been involved in the activity for more than 20 years.

"I will not stop doing my activities because of the Journal de Montréal," he said, referring to the newspaper that first reported the affair.

"I think my behaviour is perfectly acceptable," he continued.

"I hope the Ethics Commissioner does her duty, because we'll see the grants I gave out that day," he concluded with a touch of irony.

In his request for an investigation, Liberal MNA Monsef Derraji noted Fitzgibbon had not filed a declaration of the activity in the registry of gifts, hospitality and other benefits.

"A reasonable person could indeed question whether the minister's participation in a prestigious private hunting activity with shareholders of companies receiving subsidies from his own ministry constitutes a form of quid pro quo and could lead to doubts about the granting of these subsidies," he wrote.

"It's very difficult to have confidence in this minister and this government when there is so little respect for ethical issues," echoed Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who joined the Liberal party's request for an investigation. 

"I don't understand, I never get invited to these pheasant hunts," he added wryly. "No one has ever asked me to dress up with a vintage rifle."

Québec solidaire MNA Vincent Marissal also said his party is drafting a formal request for an investigation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 8, 2022.