With Quebec’s embattled anti-corruption police without a leader, the new provincial government is planning to change how the chief of UPAC is named.
Currently, the UPAC chief is named by the political party that holds power in the National Assembly, but Coalition Avenir Quebec leaders have long held that the process should be less partisan. On Wednesday, Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault said she plans to introduce a bill that would require two thirds of MNAs to vote in favour of confirmation because a new chief can be named.
“It is a priority because we’ve always said it’s important for us that the confidence towards police institutions is reestablished for citizens,” she said.
Guilbault is expected to submit the bill after the National Assembly resumes sitting on Nov. 27. The MNAs will only sit for two weeks before leaving again for Christmas break.
The bill comes as UPAC faces increasing scrutiny. Former chief Robert Lafreniere resigned suddenly on Oct. 1, the same day as the Quebec provincial election. Last week, Guilbault’s ministry asked the province’s Bureau of Independent Investigators to look into UPAC media leaks.
Court documents filed earlier this year showed UPAC had suspected four people of being the source of leaks regarding an investigation into political financing connected to prominent Liberals like former Premier Jean Charest and fundraiser Marc Bibeau.
Among those suspects was Liberal MNA Guy Ouellette.
Last year, Ouellette was arrested by UPAC as part of an investigation into the leaks, but no charges were ever laid.
Just days before the Oct. 1 election, CAQ officials claimed Ouellette had leaked emails and documents to them in 2016. Ouellette denied the accusation, saying UPAC may have planted those documents, but was still expelled from the Liberal caucus.
Despite the expulsion, he was still re-elected in the Chomedey riding.
