General

Van Loan on Mulcair: why so quiet on corruption, Tom?

The Government House Leader’s statement on bribery allegations in La Presse

Here’s a statement from Government House Leader Peter Van Loan regarding La Presse’s revelation that former Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt allegedly attempted to bribe NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair when the latter was a provincial MNA.

According to Radio-Canada [ed’s note: it was actually La Presse’s exclusive] Thomas Mulcair has known about corruption in Quebec politics since 1994, when the Mayor of Laval allegedly offered him “help” in the typical Liberal style: an envelope. Thomas Mulcair appears to have kept this sordid affair to himself for seventeen years. In 2010, he even denied having ever been offered a bribe. Yet after seventeen years of silence, Mulcair finally spoke up after investigations were already underway in 2011. As a result, Thomas Mulcair could be called before the Charbonneau Commission to explain his (in)action.

Mulcair kept his firsthand knowledge of corruption from the public for two more years, before choosing to dump it today, when he felt the media would be distracted by other stories.

This presents some difficult questions for Mr. Mulcair:

Why did he protect Gilles Vaillancourt and cover up this alleged criminal activity for 17 years?

Why did it take a public inquiry into the biggest corruption scandal in Canadian history for Thomas Mulcair to finally come clean with Canadians?

Why did Thomas Mulcair lie and say he was never offered any money by Gilles Vaillancourt?

Will he agree to appear if called to testify under oath before the Charbonneau Commission?

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