A three-page summary of a Sureté du Quebec examination into the province's anti-corruption squad has MNAs asking for more information.
The brief about the work culture at UPAC is damning: it says the squad is plagued by rivalries and jealousy, with senior staff members putting down junior employees in front of their colleagues.
The note says employees are subject to favouritism when it comes to overtime pay and promotions.
It also points out a lack of training and coaching for investigators.
The Parti Quebecois's public security critic, Stephane Bergeron, said it appears to be an unhealthy place to work but he wants to know more and is urging the provincial government to release the full report.
"We have reasons to think that the report that we're asking for contains some information that was not part of the report that had been tabled by the minister yesterday, so we're still asking for this report," said Bergeron.
Public security minister Martin Coiteux said that just is not possible because the full report contains sensitive information.
I'm trying to be as transparent as possible without getting into the details of police investigations and this is a very important message for all people in the National Assembly. Sometimes I hear my colleagues in the National Assembly as if they would like to be investigators, as if they would like to be judges, and we need to be very aware of the need to separate the powers in our society. At the same time we need more transparency," said Coiteux.
The Liberal government said part of that transparency and oversight is why it tabled Bill 107.
That legislation would create an independent surveillance committee to oversee UPAC, but it would also give UPAC more power.
The opposition parties said their problem with UPAC is that its leader is chosen solely by the government, whereas they would like to see the leader of UPAC confirmed by two-thirds of the National Assembly.
