Officials from the FTQ and the Solidarity Fund QFL plan to appeal a Superior Court decision handed down Friday that would allow the Charbonneau Commission to hear wiretaps of their conversations.
Justice Geneviève Marcotte ruled that the wiretaps should be permitted because the individuals were recorded during their professional duties.
She said that the tapes do not represent a breach of privacy because the information is business-related and not personal.
Marcotte noted that the Charbonneau Commission had already vowed not to divulge any unrelated, personal conversations.
Lawyers arguing for the use of the tapes abandoned the claim that the commission would have to be shelved until a final judgment on the admissibility of the tapes was reached, but the judge agreed nonetheless that the legal question represents an inconvenience for the progress of the inquiry.
While inquiry participants have the right to privacy, it's not an absolute right and the definition of "privacy" depends greatly on the context of the information, the ruling said."We must find a balance between private interests, the right to respect for privacy and the public interest is the search for truth and public information related to the mandate of the inquiry," the commission wrote.
A lawyer for the fund had argued the inquiry had no right to play those wiretaps.
Jean-Claude Hebert said Monday that he would consult with his clients before deciding how to proceed.
The motion was on behalf of two people including Michel Arsenault, who's not only the union president but also the president of the board of the investment fund.
They said the recordings were of private conversations and, while making their argument, cited the U.S. Edward Snowden case while discussing privacy concerns.
The recordings were made during the provincial police's Operation Diligence -- which was examining organized crime's infiltration into the legitimate economy, with a special focus on the masonry industry. Investigators stumbled upon phone conversations between union leaders and the Fonds de solidarite.
The FTQ lawyers had filed a motion arguing that the broadcast of surreptitious recordings violates the Article 193 of the Criminal Code, as well as sections 7 and 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The fund has more than $9 billion in net assets and is the largest of its kind in the country.
It would feel the biggest impact from a move, announced in the last federal budget, to phase out a tax credit for union-backed mutual funds.
The Harper government argues that the credit leads to inefficient investment decisions at a cost of $140 million a year to the federal treasury.
The role of construction unions, and the FTQ fund, is expected to be a major focus of the Quebec corruption inquiry this fall.
On Monday, a witness described how his FTQ union used its former power to pick workers to advance its own interests on construction sites. The law was revoked under the Charest Liberals.
Businesses that got along well with union bosses could get the best workers, and those who didn't would get the "bottom of the barrel" workers which would slow down a project, he testified.
Another witness Monday, the former director-general of a masonry business owners' association, said she was intimidated a dozen times after people found out she planned to testify at the inquiry.
Stephanie Berard said a car would be parked outside her house, lights blaring into her window. She received a bluntly worded warning on her home voicemail not to testify. She was eventually fired.
-With a file from The Canadian Press
