Sébastien Proulx, the former education minister from January 2016 to 2018, did not rule out suing the Quebec ombudsman on Thursday, accusing his ministry of “preferential treatment” of the species in a statement Thursday.
• Read more: The Ministry of Education blames the Québec Ombudsman
• Read more: $60 million for “priority treatment” from a ministry
• Read more: Quebec ombudsman condemns: “I plead guilty” to helping breakfast club
“It is clear that my integrity is under attack. I will look into my options. I will start by answering all the questions about the nature of the program and my work, and then I will see,” he said in an interview with TVA Nouvelles 22h.
Mr. Proulx says he has nothing to be ashamed of in the file and that he “regrets nothing.”
“When I was Minister of Education I will never apologize for supporting the most trusted organizations in helping children in Quebec, like Allô Prof and the Breakfast Club,” he announced in a press release issued Thursday evening.
In its findings made public on Thursday, the Quebec ombudsman said the “discretionary power to grant subsidies was used unfairly. In many situations, companies have genuinely benefited from preferential treatment.
Although the Québec Ombudsman did not name the department and institution in question in its documents, it was later revealed that it was the Department of Education and that the complaint was made in February 2018.
Among the organizations benefiting from the $60 million project are the Breakfast Club of Canada, First Nations Adult Education Trust, Allô prof, la cantine pour tous, the Fédération des Comités de Parents du Québec , Secondary en spectacle, the Institute for Learning Disabilities and the Quebec Foundation for Literacy.
Sébastien Proulx, who was Minister of Education at the time, says that “these essential institutions are financed by a voluntary program of support for partners, precisely to avoid administrative mazes and to speed up the response to needs”.
The former education minister describes the handling of the case as “representative of Quebec institutions.”
“I was never invited. I was never met. I was never asked to give my version of the facts. Today we are insidiously disseminating the “findings” of a report we keep secret,” he lamented in the press release.
“What could I have done wrong? Shake the apple tree to better support organizations that feed children, help children with learning difficulties, help Aboriginal children, help disabled children!” He adds.
Sébastien Proulx says he has nothing to be ashamed of.
“If I had to do it over again, I would do the same thing again,” the former minister said.
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