{"id":194116,"date":"2018-12-16T00:57:11","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T05:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=194116"},"modified":"2025-01-20T23:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T04:04:16","slug":"quebecs-anti-corruption-unit-blames-media-coverage-for-recruiting-troubles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/12\/16\/quebecs-anti-corruption-unit-blames-media-coverage-for-recruiting-troubles\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec’s anti corruption unit blames media coverage for recruiting troubles"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
However, Quebec media have been reporting on turmoil within\u00a0the\u00a0anti-corruption unit for months, and\u00a0the\u00a0reports suggest\u00a0the\u00a0unit has a difficult work environment with low morale. (PIXABAY PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL \u2014 Seven years after it was created, Quebec’s anti-corruption unit is having difficulty recruiting members and filling a number of positions.<\/p>\n

Frederick Gaudreau,\u00a0the\u00a0interim head of\u00a0the\u00a0agency known by its French acronym, UPAC, admits unflattering coverage in\u00a0the\u00a0media hasn’t helped.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it’s a reason, I don’t want to deny it,\u201d Gaudreau said at a recent news conference during\u00a0the\u00a0presentation of\u00a0the\u00a0unit’s annual report. \u201cI won’t hide from you that it’s a challenge to recruit people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0report also revealed that there was a 30 per cent rate of voluntary departures among permanent employees at UPAC.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0unit, which has about 350 employees, was created by former premier Jean Charest in 2011 amid allegations of corruption in Quebec’s construction industry and\u00a0the\u00a0alleged illegal financing of political parties.<\/p>\n

Gaudreau recently took over as\u00a0the\u00a0unit’s director after his predecessor, Robert Lafreniere, tendered his resignation on Oct. 1 \u2014\u00a0the\u00a0day of\u00a0the\u00a0last provincial election.<\/p>\n

No reason was given for Lafreniere’s decision to step down. He had been at\u00a0the\u00a0head of\u00a0the\u00a0unit since it was created.<\/p>\n

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He was reconfirmed in\u00a0the\u00a0job in 2016 and his mandate was supposed to end in 2021.<\/p>\n

However, Quebec media have been reporting on turmoil within\u00a0the\u00a0anti-corruption unit for months, and\u00a0the\u00a0reports suggest\u00a0the\u00a0unit has a difficult work environment with low morale.<\/p>\n

Documents leaked to\u00a0the\u00a0press\u00a0also revealed UPAC has for years been investigating Charest and Liberal party treasurer Marc Bibeau on illegal electoral financing suspicions.<\/p>\n

No arrests have been made in either investigation and Charest has denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Gaudreau was coy when asked on Thursday if\u00a0the\u00a0two men are still being investigated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we talk about an investigation that’s underway, we could put\u00a0the\u00a0investigation at risk,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s important not to comment on an investigation that’s underway.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Liberal member of\u00a0the\u00a0Quebec legislature, who says he was \u201cdestroyed\u201d after being targeted by UPAC, is suing\u00a0the\u00a0provincial government for $550,000.<\/p>\n

In October 2017, Guy Ouellette was arrested by\u00a0the\u00a0anti-corruption unit on suspicion he was responsible for leaking sensitive information about\u00a0the\u00a0investigation into Charest and Bibeau.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Ouellette, a former provincial police officer, denied\u00a0the\u00a0claims and was never charged.<\/p>\n

Gaudreau admitted that\u00a0the\u00a0negative media coverage has affected\u00a0the\u00a0recruitment of officers to join\u00a0the\u00a0unit, but it’s something he hopes to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy objective, I would say, is to assure\u00a0the\u00a0population that\u00a0the\u00a0work is being done properly in\u00a0the\u00a0field (and) remove any uneasiness and any preoccupation that people have had in\u00a0the\u00a0past,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

An internal report in December 2017, which was leaked to\u00a0the\u00a0media, talked of palpable tensions and a lack of confidence in management among\u00a0the\u00a0unit’s employees.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Quebec’s public security department announced in October that\u00a0the\u00a0province’s independent police watchdog, known as BEI, will investigate leaks of confidential information apparently coming from UPAC.<\/p>\n

Gaudreau said about a dozen positions for investigators and several support staff positions now need to be filled.<\/p>\n

He noted that there’s little interest among\u00a0the\u00a0younger generation of police officers to fight against corruption because of\u00a0the\u00a0complexity of\u00a0the\u00a0inquiries, which take a lot of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have a tendency to work on short-term dossiers are not necessarily motivated by our inquiries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gaudreau said that, while he didn’t have exact figures, a large portion of\u00a0the\u00a0police being hired by UPAC don’t have any experience handling investigations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s clear to me that we need to evolve\u00a0the\u00a0model into UPAC 2.0,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Gaudreau also said he hasn’t excluded\u00a0the\u00a0possibility of going outside Quebec to look for investigators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re open to considering anything,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we are looking for are highly-motivated people who are best qualified to do this type of an inquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 With files from Caroline Plante<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 Seven years after it was created, Quebec’s anti-corruption unit is having difficulty recruiting members and filling a number …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":194118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-peter-rakobowchuk","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286365,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194116\/revisions\/286365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}