There’s more information about allegations of a Liberal conspiracy. In April, the head of the Montreal police union said two Liberal MNAs were the subject of a criminal probe.
A report Monday named names: Liberal house leader Jean-Marc Fournier and former finance minister Raymond Bachand, now Quebec’s chief NAFTA negotiator.
READ MORE: Montreal police brotherhood head says Liberals asked him to run
Fournier said he does not want to be a distraction for his party, but that stepping down would make him look guilty.
“I know what he says is not true, so answering to that, it’s like, let him win,” he said.
Yves Francoeur, the head of the Montreal Police Brotherhood, made the allegations in April on live radio, alleging that two Liberal MNAs were involved in fraud and had ties to the mafia. He said police had wiretap evidence, but that the case was swept under the rug.
Fournier says police never contacted him — and he denies all allegations:
“I don’t know what he’s talking about. What he said, if it had happened in my life, I would remember and it never happened,” he said.
“The unwritten rule is that when a minister is subject to an inquiry, or part of an inquiry he should be suspended, waiting for the conclusion,” said Parti Quebecois leader, Jean-François Lisée.
Lisée said that until police tell the public if they really do have wiretap evidence against Bachand or Fournier (or other MNAs), Quebecers don’t know who to believe, and so Fournier needs to be removed from cabinet anyway. Fournier said the thought has crossed his own mind.
“I’ll finish my mandate, but will I run for another?” Fournier told reporters that last week he would have said yes, but today he’s not so sure.
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