Solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal asks the Ethics Commissioner to look into the nearly $100 million transaction between Investissement Québec (IQ) and Polycor.
• Read also: QS calls for an investigation into the exchanges between Polycor and Fitzgibbon
• To read also: Fitzgibbon once again evasive on his links with a company
• Read also: Major financial support: nearly $100 million investment in Polycor
After alerting the Lobbying Commissioner, Ms. Ghazal is now asking the Ethics Commissioner to also analyze the transaction and the links between Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon and Polycor.
“In this case, there are many, many, many questions that remain unanswered and it is very important that we clarify them,” she said. “Was there any favouritism? These are real questions, questions that worry us. There were even local Quebec companies competing with Polycor who said: how come we weren’t called?
She believes that the Ethics Commissioner could answer these questions.
Contradiction
According to the daily Le Devoir, a conversation took place on January 18 between the president and CEO of Investissement Québec, Guy LeBlanc, and Patrick Perus, the president and CEO of Polycor. They were in the presence of a representative of TD Securities, Polycor’s agent.
Mr. Perus was not registered in the register of Lobbyisms of Quebec.
At the beginning of May, Quebec and IQ announced that they were taking a $98 million stake in the company specializing in granite extraction.
IQ admits the conversation, but Polycor refutes it.
Then, the day after the announcement, Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon remained unclear about his recent dealings with the company.
The Journal reported that Polycor issued a “statement” to say that its CEO, Patrick Perus, had called the minister, at his request, in “a courtesy call” lasting less than a minute.
Two weeks ago, QS economics spokeswoman Ruba Ghazal had already asked the ethics commissioner to investigate the transaction.
