MONTREAL – The $100,000 fundraising question continued to dog former Liberal transport minister Julie Boulet at Quebec’s corruption inquiry on Thursday.
Boulet again told the Charbonneau Commission she was never informed that cabinet ministers had to raise that sum every year under party rules.
Inquiry counsel Sonia LeBel confronted Boulet with the words of two of her ex-cabinet colleagues who said the $100,000 objective was widely known.
READ MORE: Ex-Quebec transport minister testifies she knew nothing about fundraising
LeBel also noted that current Premier Philippe Couillard said in 2012, before being elected, that he thought the quota wasn’t a good idea.
Boulet reiterated she had no idea about any fundraising objectives until learning of them from a colleague in 2009.
Boulet was junior transport minister between 2003 and ’07 before assuming the full-fledged transport portfolio from 2007 to 2010.
The long-serving politician also weighed in on the outsourcing of engineering work to private firms.
She said she did not believe heavy political funding was linked to the work those engineering firms received.
In Quebec City, Couillard told reporters Boulet remains a member of the Liberal caucus.
He said being called to testify at the inquiry doesn’t mean she’s guilty of wrongdoing.
But he said the existence of quotas was common knowledge.
“As with every political party, people knew the funding objectives,” Couillard told reporters.
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