Marie Montpetit will not be able to run as a liberal in 2022, says Anglade

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QUEBEC – Regardless of the results of a possible independent investigation, Marie Montpetit will not be able to return to the Quebec Liberal caucus and will not be on the party’s list in the 2022 elections, Liberal leader Dominique Anglade said on Tuesday.

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A day after expelling Montpetit from the caucus following allegations of psychological harassment, Anglade went on the offensive and claimed that Montpetit’s days as a liberal were over.

“Right now I have enough information that has caught my attention to make the decision, regardless of any investigation, that we cannot tolerate certain behaviors,” Anglade told reporters at a press conference in the legislature.

“We cannot tolerate certain ways of dealing with our employees. So it’s zero tolerance. “

Anglade insisted that her relationship with Montpetit, who supported her in the Liberal leadership race and co-chaired her campaign, was not a consideration.

“I made a decision based on the facts that were given to me,” Anglade said. “It was a difficult decision to make, but it was the right decision.”

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When asked if the situation means Montpetit will not be allowed to return to the caucus or run again for the Liberals in his Montreal riding Maurice-Richard, Anglade was clear.

“With the information I have today, that’s what I see today,” he said. “With the information I have now, I don’t see how I would run again.

“Sufficient information means that the facts that you see are not aligned with the values ​​that you want to see within your caucus.”

The next Quebec elections are in October 2022.

Anglade’s decision followed a report in La Presse On Monday the party leader received a complaint for psychological harassment against Montpetit last Thursday. By the end of the day on Monday, the Liberals said they had brought to their attention “additional information,” enough to ask Montpetit to leave the caucus.

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Montpetit received the news from the president of the caucus, Pierre Arcand. The party has not disclosed what the additional information is.

On Tuesday, Le Devoir reported he had spoken to eight former employees who made similar allegations. Some date back to the period in which Montpetit was Minister of Culture in the Philippe Couillard government, in 2017 and 2018.

The National Assembly has the power to open investigations into such complaints. Under a policy adopted by the legislature in 2015, investigations are sent to an independent company, which then assesses the credibility of the complaints. Witnesses are offered anonymity.

Montpetit has denied the allegations. In a statement, he offered his full cooperation in the event of an investigation.

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“I have always put mutual respect at the center of my professional relationships,” Montpetit said. “I want a formal investigation to be launched as soon as possible that will allow me to reestablish the facts and thus defend my reputation.”

On Saturday, Anglade stripped Montpetit of his shadow cabinet health critic post following a Twitter feud with former liberal health minister Gaétan Barrette, who also lost his role as a Treasury Board critic.

Barrette’s own future in the Liberal Party is uncertain, and Anglade refuses to express her confidence in him and suggests that it is not part of their plans to renew the Liberals. Anglade hopes to breathe new life into the party at a political convention on November 27-28 in Quebec City.

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On Tuesday, she arrived for her press conference accompanied by Arcand, as well as the leader of her house, André Fortin, and the whip Filomena Rotiroti, who is responsible for the discipline of the caucus.

Arcand, who was interim leader of the Quebec Liberals after Couillard’s resignation, told reporters that he never heard any complaints about Montpetit during the time he ran the party.

Rotiroti explained the process for handling the investigations, but neither confirmed nor denied that one had been opened.

Montpetit has been the MNA for the Maurice-Richard riding, formerly called Crémazie, since 2014. With her expulsion from the caucus, she becomes the sixth MNA in the house to sit as an independent.

Neither Montpetit nor Barrette were present in the legislature on Tuesday.

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