Six representatives of the queen have been talking about them for the wrong reasons

Archival Photo Didier Debusschère

Marc-Antoine Turcotte

Wednesday, 19 July 2017 06:00

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Wednesday, 19 July 2017 06:00

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Fraud, corruption, bribery, nazi symbol, the acquisition of dishonest actions; some of the governors general and lieutenant governors have found themselves in the heart of the news because of actions sometimes questionable, sometimes illegal.

By observing the course of these politicians is symbolic, we find incidents from the early 1900’s.

Even if the members of the list that follows have all been representatives of the queen, some have made about them while they were employed in a different position.

• READ ALSO: Julie Payette has already been charged in the United States

Here’s six.

• Onésime Gagnon, Lieutenant-governor of Quebec from 1958 to 1961; minister alongside of Maurice Duplessis

In 1955, while he was not yet lieutenant governor Onésime Gagnon took advantage of confidential information to buy shares in a gas company.

Photo national Archives of Quebec

It was in 1958 that The task brings to light the scandal: the Duplessis government, which was part Gagnon, had decided to sell the gas network of Hydro-Québec to the private sector.

On 7 march, the transaction is entered into. On April 25, the securities are formally offered for sale.

However, as we can read in the archives of Radio-Canada, at least eight ministers have taken advantage of this window to acquire shares of the Corporation’s natural gas, and this, before the sale is made public.

Gagnon has been soiled by this incident as he sat at the head of the legislative power. This has not prevented him from maintaining his position, until he goes out in 1961.

• Lomer Gouin premier of Quebec between 1905 and 1920; lieutenant-governor from 31 December 1928 to 28 march 1929.

The events relating to this politician took place before it the head office as lieutenant-governor.

1914: the liberal government is in power for more than sixteen years. Lomer Gouin leads to the boat for the past nine years.

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At this time, a new daily to ideologies rather conservative, the Montreal Daily News, made its appearance in the sphere of the media.

As explained in the edition of the magazine Scandals published in the fall of 2005, doubts about the integrity of the political class in quebec circulate in these same years.

The president in chief and president the daily want to make known their newspaper, and they decide to put the package: they are investing near to$ 50 000 to trap the politicians responsible for the projects of law.

Of private detectives of New York to bring in the Old Capital in order to sell them to elect a private bill in order to “create” an enterprise of exhibitions and public events that would not have to bend to the different constraints of the laws in force in Quebec.

Armed with wads of cash, they pinch the member of parliament for Soulanges, Joseph Octave Mousseau, using microphones installed in a room of the Château Frontenac. The latter will resign shortly after.

Two legislative counsel, Achille Bergevin and Louis Philippe Bérard, do the same, also caught in a mousetrap.

Mousseau did not, however, listed all of the recipients of these bribes during his meeting with the private detective, which allows the prime minister Gouin choke quietly the case with “help” of the First world War.

Despite this, the liberals have retained their strong parliamentary majorities for many years, and Lamer Gouin was appointed lieutenant-governor of Quebec in 1928, before dying six months later.

Nearly one hundred years later, who runs Quebec? Liberals!

• Jean-Louis Roux, lieutenant-governor of Quebec between August and November 1996

“Young nationalist believes that, he (Roux) was in 1940 a swastika on his lab coat, and had participated in a riot in which shops belonging to owners of jewish origin had been ransacked,” one can read in a text of the Journal de Québec.

Photo QMI Agency

When his troubled past was noised in the media, the man of the theatre has resigned… two months after his appointment!

• Lise Thibault – lieutenant governor of Quebec between 1997 and 2007

Thibault took advantage of a mechanism that allowed him to be reimbursed by the government, of the expenses otherwise ineligible.

Convicted of fraud and breach of trust, she has inherited a trip to jail for 18 months, in addition to having to repay$ 300,000 to the provincial and federal governments.

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The lady of 78 years was released at one-sixth of his sentence.

It must also more than 1.5 Million dollars in federal and provincial taxes.

June 7, 2017, Lise Thibault has declared bankruptcy.

• Michaëlle Jean, secretary general of the OIF, governor-general of Canada between 2005 and 2010

In June, the Bureau of investigation of the Journal de Montréal revealed that a renovation of$ 500,000 had been made in his apartment near the Eiffel tower, that she lives in the part of his post of secretary general of the world Organization of the Francophonie (OIF).

The public is outraged, and the main stakeholder was said to be the victim of a campaign of defamation: “it was the fault of the media if she seemed to lead a lifestyle that is princely.”

© QMI agency

The travel expenses of over$ 900,000 (40% more than expected) have also made a great noise among the population and the political class in quebec.

• Julie Payette – designated as the next governor general

In 2011, in Maryland, Ms. Payette has been charged with having committed an assault causing after-effects, as reported by our reporter Boris Proulx.

© Photo René Baillargeon

The proceedings were discontinued two weeks later.

Julie Payette has not commented on these accusations. The office of the prime minister Justin Trudeau declined to clarify if he had this information before selecting it.