Finance Minister Eric Girard appoints friend to Loto-Québec board of directors
CTV
Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette isn't the only one who has appointed a friend: his colleague, Finance Minister Eric Girard, admitted Saturday that he had done the same. Just last week, Girard reappointed his "personal friend" Jean-François Blais to the board of directors of Loto-Québec.
Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette isn't the only one who has appointed a friend: his colleague, Finance Minister Eric Girard, admitted Saturday that he had done the same.
Just last week, Girard reappointed his "personal friend" Jean-François Blais to the board of directors of Loto-Québec.
Girard and Blais met in high school at Séminaire Saint-François in the Quebec City area. Blais was first appointed to the board of Loto-Québec on the minister's recommendation in 2019.
Unlike Jolin-Barrette, Girard would have warned Premier François Legault that he was about to appoint a close friend: "I certainly said that this person, I knew him."
On Saturday, Girard brushed off questions about the appearance of a conflict of interest by touting his friend's experience. "He's someone who has exceptional skills," he said.
Defending his justice department colleague, Girard said the judicial appointment process was "very different" from that of Crown corporation board members.
Arriving at the CAQ convention in Sherbrooke on Saturday, Jolin-Barrette said he was "fully aware" that his friend's appointment to a judicial position "would necessarily have a resonance."
