Quebec premier forced to defend his party’s integrity at Liberal caucus meeting

Quebec premier Philippe Couillard was forced to defend the integrity of his party Wednesday at the Liberal caucus meeting in Gatineau.

With two weeks left before session starts, the government was forced to address some pressing issues.

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The premier was asked some tough questions, including whether or not the party felt it had the public’s trust among recent scandals.

“No question came up about the integrity of my government,” said Couillard, coming to the defence of his party.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "No question came up about the integrity of my government," said Couillard, coming to the defence of his party.

It’s been a tough summer for the Liberals with transport minister Jacques Daoust being forced to resign over allegations he lied to the public about his knowledge of Investissement Quebec selling its shares in Rona.

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“We said this from the start. From day one we said, ‘why did we want to balance the budget?'” said Couillard.

“Not because we want to have clean accounting sheets, but because we want to be able to support and sustain education, health care and a new economy in Quebec.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Not because we want to have clean accounting sheets, but because we want to be able to support and sustain education, health care and a new economy in Quebec."

The premier pointed to a recent $500 million investment in schools and a new faculty of medicine in Gatineau as two examples of the government’s work.

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He downplayed the scandals, insisting Daoust wasn’t the first cabinet minister to resign and mentioning Sam Hamad stepped down in April because of conflict of interest concerns dating back to 2012.

“We have discussed this case before,” he said.

“Mr. Hamad is still part of the caucus. He’s here today, by the way, and we’re happy he’s still with us.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Mr. Hamad is still part of the caucus. He's here today, by the way, and we're happy he's still with us."

Liberal house leader Jean-Marc Fournier said there’s no tension within the ranks of the Liberal caucus, but he did allude to having a stressful summer.

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“You know, I’m starting to have gray hair,” he joked.

“Things happen like that in a government. It happens. You’ve got to continue the job, to deliver what we think is good for the progress of Quebec.”