Unrest continues a week after the announcement of $5 million to $7 million to bring the 2024 Los Angeles Kings to Quebec.
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The Deputy Prime Minister, Geneviève Guilbault, also admitted that the timing of this announcement was poorly chosen.
“I fully understand that people have serious questions about the timing of this announcement,” she said. “Was this the right time to announce this? I understand the dissonance people found in this post, even if people love hockey.
Remember that during his last economic report, the Secretary of the Treasury, Eric Girard, said that we need to tighten the belt in terms of public funds.
Saturday morning, the newspaper revealed that the CAQ government would use the National Capital Region Fund (FRCN) to finance the arrival of the Californian team, sparking an outcry from opposition parties on social media.
This fund is usually used to finance projects of social and non-profit organizations. This would therefore increase and the expenditure would be extended to two years as the projects eligible for this should not exceed three million dollars.
Geneviève Guilbault says today that she does not know the origin of these funds. However, those who are most affected by this, the Minister of Finance and the Minister responsible for the capital, remain silent.
For this reason, Québec solidaire decided to file a request for investigation to the Auditor Generalalso supported by the Parti Québécois.
“It raises questions of good governance,” said Sol Zanetti, member of Québec solidaire in Jean-Lesage. “We want the auditor general to check how they managed to use the money from this fund that should help small businesses and non-profit organizations in the Quebec region.”
“When it comes to rich people, millionaires, billionaires, it’s easy and fast, we pull out the checkbook,” says Pascal Paradis, Parti Québécois MP in Jean-Talon. “When it comes to local or community organizations, you have to go through the whole process and these are questions that you have to have answers to.”
