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February 24th, 2012

Reality check: It pays to have Minister Paradis as a friend.

The Conservatives have shown yet again that insiders come first. Minister Christian Paradis intervened to relocate a Rimouski employment insurance service centre to a building own by a friend in the riding.

The new service centre in Thetford Mines will operate out of a building owned by the company 9183-0497 Québec Inc., which is run by Ghislain Dionne.
M. Dionne’s connections with Minister Paradis and the Conservatives are undeniable:

  • M. Dionne is a partner alongside Paradis’ father in a law firm that the Minister himself belonged to before being elected as an MP
  • According to Elections Canada, M. Dionne poured $3,165 into Conservative Party coffers between 2007 and 2010.

Moreover, according to the newspaper Le Progrès Écho, Ottawa will be forced to pay $1.28 million in rent until 2018 for the offices, even though they will remain empty.

This type of patronage politics from Conservative Christian Paradis is a throwback to days of Duplessis and corruption.

Conservatives think there is one rule for them, and another for everyone else.