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 Quebec Premier Jean Charest is facing a chorus of calls for a public inquiry into corruption in the construction industry. (QMI Agency/Stevens Leblanc) |
MONTREAL - It's been a bad week in a bad month in a bad year for the Quebec Liberal Party and its beleaguered leader, Premier Jean Charest.
A string of scandals is threatening to topple them from power and creating blowback all the way to Parliament Hill.
Next Wednesday, the Charest government, which holds a slim majority, is facing a non-confidence vote in Quebec's legislature. The government is unlikely to fall, but the motion is nonetheless forcing the premier to delay a diplomatic mission to France.
It's the culmination of a week of embarrassing allegations and revelations hitting the province's political class.
On Monday, an online petition was launched calling for Charest's resignation. It's edging towards 200,000 signatures and gathering more at an alarming rate.
Then, the largest union in the province did sudden about-face and joined the premier's rivals in calling for a wide-ranging probe construction industry, leaving Charest alone in refusing a call for a public inquiry.
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The Quebec Federation of Labour is itself mired in allegations it's linked to organized crime and uses intimidation to keep rival unions off job sites.
On Thursday, the head of an anti-corruption squad investigating bid-rigging in construction contracts stepped aside temporarily over questionable campaign financing in his failed 1998 mayoral bid.
All this happened against a backdrop of Montreal-area mayors being pressured to resign over a rash of conflict of interest allegations.
The first to fall was Terrebonne Mayor Jean-Marc Robitaille, who stepped down in early November after allegations arose over unethical dealings with a local contractor.
Next, Richard Marcotte was expelled from his party and temporarily stepped down as mayor of Mascouche because of concerns over close ties with the same contractor.
Then St-Jerome Mayor Marc Gascon resigned as the head of the Quebec Union of Municipalities over conflict of interest concerns relating to municipal contracts.
And Gilles Vaillancourt, mayor of the sprawling north shore suburb of Laval, is being pressured to resign from the board of directors of Hydro-Quebec after being accused of attempting to make illegal cash contributions to two politicians, including Bloc Quebecois MP Serge Menard, almost two decades ago.
The salacious scandals have even reached Ottawa.
Menard is likely be hauled in front of a parliamentary ethics committee to explain why it took him 17 years to come forward with his revelations.
And Tory Minister Christian Paradis is also embroiled in a Quebec-based scandal after being accused of interference in the awarding of government contracts.