Following criticism, the chairman of the commission looking into the SAAQclic fiasco, Denis Gallant, said he will limit exchanges with witnesses he knows.
“If I know a witness personally, I will not be able to meet with them beforehand or consult any document whatsoever about them,” he said in a news release.
“Their testimony will be examined in public, and I will take note of what they have to say only when they address the commission in public,” he added.
Judge Gallant’s appointment to head the commission of enquiry into SAAQclic is being hotly contested because of his ties to Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel. Both were prosecutors at the Charbonneau commission from 2011 to 2014.
Last month, LeBel admitted to having had “suppers” with Gallant and other former colleagues on the commission. She also attended his presentation ceremony as a municipal court judge on Feb. 19.
On Tuesday, the Quebec Liberal Party and the Parti québécois (PQ) again asked Gallant to recuse himself.
“Why did the government insist that it be him, when there are hundreds of jurists in Quebec who could have done an excellent job?” asked PQ MNA Pascal Paradis at a news briefing.
“Why does he insist on chairing the commission’s debates?”
The public hearings will take place in the spring and summer, but Gallant will make his opening statement in mid-April.
The team of prosecutors will be led by Simon Tremblay, assisted by Mélanie Tremblay and Alexandre Thériault-Marois. Professor Martine Valois will act as legal counsel.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French April 1, 2025.
