{"id":590459,"date":"2026-04-08T15:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/590459\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T15:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:17:10","slug":"roberge-faces-ethics-probe-over-alleged-data-leak-to-caq-leadership-hopefuls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/590459\/","title":{"rendered":"Roberge faces ethics probe over alleged data leak to CAQ leadership hopefuls"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Quebec’s ethics commissioner has launched an investigation into Immigration Minister Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Roberge for allegedly sharing internal data with two candidates vying to succeed Fran\u00e7ois Legault.<\/p>\n

The probe follows formal requests from Liberal MNA Marc Tanguay and Qu\u00e9bec Solidaire MNA \u00c9tienne Grandmont.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe requests cite reasonable grounds to believe that the minister may have breached a provision of the code regarding conflicts of interest,\u201d says ethics commissioner Ariane Mignolet in a statement. <\/p>\n

Grandmont and Tanguay accuse Roberge of sharing a ministry study with Bernard Drainville and Christine Fr\u00e9chette in regards to their proposals for the Programme de l’exp\u00e9rience qu\u00e9b\u00e9coise <\/a>(PEQ). The program is a primary pathway for immigrants to obtain a Quebec selection certificate, a necessary step toward permanent residency.<\/p>\n

The study reportedly analyzed the impact of ending the program last November and the feasibility of a “grandfather clause” for those already in the system. Under the province’s ethics code, ministers are barred from using public resources or civil service expertise for partisan purposes.<\/p>\n

The investigation will determine if Roberge violated section 17 of the code, which prohibits MNAs from using or sharing non-public information obtained through their duties to benefit themselves or others.<\/p>\n

Immigration has emerged as a central flashpoint in the leadership race. The candidates have clashed over the question of the PEQ\u2019s “grandfather clause,\u201d with Drainville\u2019s proposal being more restrictive than that of his rival, who has called for a two-year return of the program.<\/p>\n

In an email to Radio-Canada, Roberge acknowledged the investigation and vowed to \u201cfully co-operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ethics commissioner said the inquiry will be held behind closed doors and no further comments will be made while it is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Grandmont called the sharing of internal data during a race \u201cunacceptable,\u201d while Tanguay said the Liberals will closely monitor the results of the probe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-590459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}