CAQ denies links to Herouxville code

Sylvie Roy, MNA for the Coalition Avenir Quebec, seen here in a CP file photo, slammed Boisclair's comments Thursday.

QUEBEC CITY - CAQ MNA Sylvie Roy vigorously denied allegations made by former PQ leader André Boisclair linking the CAQ’s predecessor party to Herouxville affair.

In an interview broadcast on Wednesday, Boisclair claimed that the ADQ, a forerunner to the CAQ, sponsored a code that dictated acceptable behaviour among immigrants to the town in 2007, which then fueled a hurtful debate over reasonable accommodation.

During the 2007 election campaign, ADQ leader Mario Dumont helped his party win enough seats to supplant the PQ as the official opposition after a campaign in which he frequently addressed the issue of reasonable accommodation.

Boisclair claimed that the ADQ, now merged with the CAQ, paid for and organized the Herouxville code, which prohibited many practices, including stoning.

CAQ MNA Sylvie Roy slammed Boisclair for his comments Thursday, saying that the ADQ never had any contact with the author of the Herouxville code, a man named Andre Drouin.

“It’s completely crazy to think that you could pay a guy like Andre Drouin five years and never have it come out, it’s incredible,” said Roy.

Boisclair later said that his allegations were based on a conversation he had with Eric Duhaime, a former adviser to ADQ leader Mario Dumont.

Boisclair admitted that he did not have any further evidence. “I repeated what I was told,” he said.

Duhaime told a radio station that he had no recollection of the conversation that Boisclair cited.