A bill to reveal the financing of the “NO” camp
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois (PQ), through the voice of its MP for Matane-Matapédia, Pascal Bérubé, announced its intention to present a bill in order to demand the publication of documents related to the financing of the “NO” camp during the 1995 referendum campaign.
This announcement comes after the National Assembly’s unanimous adoption of two motions requesting the declassification of these same documents, motions to which the Director General of Elections (DGEQ) has not acted.
The archives in question relate to the Grenier commission. According to the information provided, nearly a hundred testimonies and more than 4,500 documents filed in evidence remain, to this day, not accessible to the public due to a non-disclosure order.
The initiative of the PQ is part of an approach aimed at strengthening the transparency of public institutions, in particular those linked to the democratic process. The reluctance of the DGEQ to disclose these documents prompted MP Bérubé to assert that the National Assembly should now consider a legislative approach to ensure their publication this fall.
Mr. Bérubé stressed the importance of this step, recalling that the National Assembly had voted not one, but two motions calling for the publication of the documents. He insisted that access to this information is crucial to fully understand the events surrounding the “NO” campaign in 1995 and to ensure the transparency of democratic institutions.
It should be noted that during the Grenier commission, several discoveries were made, but still remain confidential. For Mr. Bérubé, it is essential that these documents, of great importance for the political and social history of Quebec, be made public, in particular if irregularities have been identified, in order to avoid their repetition in the future. .
