Heritage minister considers legal action against Duceppe
Last Updated: Friday, December 2, 2005 | 10:16 PM ET
CBC News
Duceppe, who was campaigning in Frulla's Montreal-area riding Friday, raised the point that Frulla's chief of staff was paid money by Groupaction, one of the ad firms at the centre of the sponsorship scandal.
During the Gomery inquiry, Welch confirmed he was paid $7,000 a month for a year by Groupaction to basically do nothing and attend Liberal functions.
"John Welch was paid by Groupaction," said Duceppe. "He was the chief of staff of Mrs. Frulla. Those are the facts. I'm not saying that she was directly involved. I'm not saying that. But look at the facts."
Frulla called Duceppe's comments a smear campaign.
Frulla narrowly defeated Bloc challenger Thierry St-Cyr, by 72 votes, in Jeanne-Le-Ber riding in the 2004 election, and St-Cyr, a 28-year-old engineer, is running again.
Also Friday, Duceppe dismissed warnings by Prime Minister Paul Martin that the election is the first step toward another referendum on Quebec independence.
"It's really a referendum election, certainly according to the [new Parti Québécois Leader Andrew] Boisclair-Duceppe duo," Martin said in Toronto on Friday. "They clearly said there was a pact between the two and that the first step was the Jan. 23 election."
Martin has been hammering on the theme of national unity during the campaign, suggesting that only the Liberals can lead the federal cause in the next referendum campaign.
Duceppe shot back at Martin's comments.
"Is Paul Martin in the process of telling us that if we win the election [in Quebec], he is going to negotiate Quebec sovereignty with Jean Charest?" Duceppe said.
"If he believes it's a referendum election, what is he going to say the day after a Bloc victory?"
