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"Oscar, who is your favorite député?", I asked my son this morning.  Without hesitation, my four year old answered: "Guy Ouellette!"

How does a four year old have a favorite MNA or actually, know any MNA at all, you ask?

The name comes up on the radio a lot lately.  And it rhymes with "toilette", which makes him giggle.  Give him a break, he's four.

A former cop and a Liberal MNA, Guy Ouellette was arrested on October 25th by UPAC, Quebec's anti-corruption unit, after the police set up a trap.  No charges were laid, Ouellette was let go and since then, many questions and allegations have been left unanswered.  It all stems from UPAC seeming to believe that Ouellette was involved in damaging media leaks about the investigation into allegations of corruption under the Jean Charest government.

The now independent MNA claims to be the victim of a setup.  He has been at odds with UPAC chief Robert Lafrenière.  Former Transport department analyst Annie Trudel goes further, saying Ouellette was looking into a collusion scheme involving UPAC, the Autorité des marches financiers (AMF) and private consulting firms since the AMF is a government body which greenlights companies before they can get public contracts.  Explosive.

Ouellette was the chair of the National Assembly's Institutions Committee, which overlooks the work of UPAC a position he was forced to abandon after the arrest.  Lafrenière, a former SQ inspector himself, has clashed with Ouellette over Bill 107, a Bill which would give UPAC a broader mandate and increased powers, basically turning it into an actual, independent police force as opposed to the hodgepodge special unit it is at the moment.  In May, Lafrenière appeared before the Institutions Committee, pledging that UPAC would hunt down the "bandit" behind the leaks.

Colleagues of all parties praised Ouellette as a champion of integrity.  He had a distinguished career as a Sûreté du Québec intelligence officer, investigating criminal gangs.  All are eager to get to the bottom of this story, but the answers aren't forthcoming.

Ouellette has accused UPAC of framing him in order to muzzle and intimidate him.  He may have a point: other MNAs will no doubt think twice about looking too closely into UPAC's operations.   Ouellette went as far as suggesting that UPAC intimidation attempts aren't new, pointing to the arrest of Charest's former Deputy Premier Nathalie Normandeau a few days before the government tabled its 2016 budget.  The plan, Ouellette claims, was to make sure that the Liberal government couldn't get rid of Lafrenière, which was rumoured as an option at the time.

But if Ouellette spoke at length about the motivations of UPAC, he did very little to substantiate any of Trudel's claims of collusion, even though he could have used the immunity provided to Parliamentarians to do so.  Lots of unanswered questions there, too.

Still, the president of the National Assembly, Jacques Chagnon, made a strong speech in defense of the rights and privileges of parliamentarians, in face of a possible abuse of power by UPAC, calling for either charges or apologies to come forward.  Leaving aside the fact that UPAC doesn't lay charges, the fact remains that arresting an MNA without having a solid case against him sets a dangerous precedent -it smells like a fishing expedition.  The explanations from the anti-corruption unit have been unconvincing so far and most of the details have come thanks to leaks out of UPAC: the unit is spinning that Ouellette had been under surveillance for several weeks his every move being followed, photographs being taken of his meetings with "shady" businessmen, his phone records being scrutinized.  Are all these resources really going into finding the source of a leak?  It wouldn't be the first time an elected official had received information from a source or whistleblower: it is part of what one does to be able to hold the government and the administration to account.

The Quebec government has now mandated the Auditor General to look into the public contract awarding process and will look into the allegations of favoritism directed at the AMF and UPAC.  Quebec also wants to establish an accountability mechanism for UPAC, which is definitely not what Lafrenière was aiming for.

While Premier Couillard first stated he was shocked by the arrest, he has largely kept quiet while the controversy plays out.  Once Chagnon spoke out in defence of Ouellette, Philippe Couillard stated: "We love Guy Ouellette.  We fought politically with Guy Ouellette.  He is part of our team.  He's wearing our hockey jersey."  Except, of course, that he isn't.  He sits alone, in his corner of the Assembly.

And Quebecers have no clue what the hell is actually going on.

Photo Credit: Radio-Canada

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