Liberals criticize appointment of Legault friend to cybersecurity ministry

“There are so few people, I imagine, who want to work with Éric Caire, so they asked a good CAQ member to go and help Éric Caire,” Liberal interim leader Marc Tanguay said.

Author of the article:

La Presse Canadienne

Caroline Plante

Published Oct 19, 2023 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 2 minute read

Stéphane Le Bouyonnec, former CAQ MNA for La Prairie. Photo by Coalition Avenir Québec

QUEBEC — It’s chaos at the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital Technology, so much so that the Coalition Avenir Québec government had to make a partisan appointment, Liberal Party interim leader Marc Tanguay said Thursday.

According to Tanguay, the appointment of Stéphane Le Bouyonnec, a close friend of Premier François Legault, to the post of deputy minister reflects the government’s despair in the face of Minister Éric Caire’s bungling.

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“This is the ministry where, at one point, there were more than 1,100 vacant positions, where … in one year, there were four (deputy ministers) who had left. So, it’s a revolving door,” Tanguay said.

On Wednesday, the cabinet approved the appointment of Le Bouyonnec, swapping positions with Pierre E. Rodrigue, who goes from deputy minister of cybersecurity and digital technology to associate secretary general of the cabinet. Both appointments take effect Monday.

The government chose to call on “a CAQ soldier,” and Le Bouyonnec, a former president of the CAQ, received the mandate “to be there then to stay there,” Tanguay said.

“There are so few people, I imagine, who want to work with Éric Caire, so they asked a good CAQ member to go and help Éric Caire. So, probably he will go out less.”

The Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs came under severe criticism during the fiasco of the SAAQclic system at the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec.

Le Bouyonnec was a CAQ MNA for La Prairie from 2012 to 2014. He ran unsuccessfully in 2014 and again in the 2018 general election, but he withdrew before the 2018 vote after it was revealed that he was the manager of a company that made loans at extremely high rates, a legal activity in Canada except in Quebec, where such a practice is considered a usurious loan.

“So, I don’t know what expertise he has, but obviously, it’s someone close to the CAQ who is rewarded for a second time with a partisan appointment,” said PQ MNA Pascal Bérubé.

In 2020, Le Bouyonnec rose to the position of associate secretary general at the cabinet, an appointment that was widely described as “partisan” at the time.

On Thursday, Bérubé tabled a motion at the National Assembly, jointly with independent MPs Frédéric Beauchemin and Marie-Claude Nichols, emphasizing that the CAQ had ultimately never tabled a bill on partisan appointments.

The Legault government refused to debate the motion.

“(The bill) was never introduced. And what does that give? Today, a former MNA and president of the CAQ is appointed to a position because he is a former MNA and president of the CAQ,” Bérubé said.