The PQ accuses the provincial Liberals of misusing economic development funds
The Parti Québécois is accusing provincial Liberals in Quebec of redirecting money originally earmarked for economic development projects in the Saguenay to companies run by Liberal supporters in Montreal. According to documents obtained by the PQ, the Fonds d’intervention économique régional Boréal (FIER-Boréal) has invested slightly more than $6 million in Quebec companies, only one of which was in the Saguenay. The rest of the money—two-thirds of which was provided by the government—went to companies in and around Montreal. Most worrisome, more than a $1 million went to companies for which Pietro Perrino and Valier Boivin, both Liberal party acolytes and two of the fund’s three administrators, are shareholders. “Not only was the money not invested in the Saguenay,” says PQ MNA François Legault, “it was invested to enrich some little friends of the Liberal party.”