{"id":76771,"date":"2016-06-02T23:32:21","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T03:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=76771"},"modified":"2016-06-02T23:32:21","modified_gmt":"2016-06-03T03:32:21","slug":"ex-quebec-lieutenant-governor-lise-thibault-released-conditional-parole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/06\/02\/ex-quebec-lieutenant-governor-lise-thibault-released-conditional-parole\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex Quebec lieutenant governor Lise Thibault released on conditional parole"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Thibault<\/a>
FILE PHOTO: Thibault began serving sentence in late February and was eligible for parole after three months. (Photo by Jvbolduc – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

QUEBEC\u2014After serving one-sixth of her sentence for fraud and breach of trust, former Quebec lieutenant-governor Lise Thibault was released from jail Thursday, according to documents from Quebec parole authorities.<\/p>\n

She was granted parole under certain conditions including obeying the law and not interacting with anyone connected to her past criminal activities.<\/p>\n

The documents state she must also \u201cactively participate toward social integration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thibault, 77, pleaded guilty in December 2014 after a 2007 report by the federal and provincial auditors general revealed she claimed more than $700,000 in improper expenses when she held the vice-regal post between 1997 and 2007.<\/p>\n

The Quebec Court of Appeal rejected her attempt three months ago to be allowed to serve the 18-month jail term in the community.<\/p>\n

She began serving the sentence in late February and was eligible for parole after three months.<\/p>\n

Thibault’s trial heard the money was allegedly spent on gifts, trips, parties, meals and skiing and golf lessons.<\/p>\n

Trial judge Carol St-Cyr called her behaviour \u201chighly reprehensible\u201d and part of a \u201cculture of deceit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quebec’s parole commission ruled she had a low risk of re-offending and judged her behaviour in prison \u201cadequate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, you did not have a disciplinary report,\u201d the document stated. \u201cYour participation in (jail) programs was limited to the use of the library and consultations with the jail chaplain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thibault, who was also ordered to pay back $200,000 to the federal government and $100,000 to Quebec, testified she had little to show financially for her time as vice-regal _ a divorce ate into her savings and she said she was living on a $30,000 pension.<\/p>\n

St-Cyr ruled against a pair of motions filed by her lawyer, Marc Labelle, who argued the case should have been dismissed because the accused benefited from royal immunity.<\/p>\n

Labelle said that meant Thibault was not a civil servant and therefore could not face criminal charges.<\/p>\n

The judge said constitutional law stipulates the
\nlieutenant-governor does not enjoy the same benefits as the Queen.<\/p>\n

St-Cyr also noted that under the Constitution, the lieutenant-governor is a civil servant, adding such an affirmation was even posted on the lieutenant-governor’s website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

QUEBEC\u2014After serving one-sixth of her sentence for fraud and breach of trust, former Quebec lieutenant-governor Lise Thibault was released from …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":76772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[11013,817,11012,11011,10560,4088],"class_list":["post-76771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-breach-of-trust","tag-fraud","tag-lieutenant-governor","tag-lise-thibault","tag-parole","tag-quebec","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76771","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}