Gatineau NDP candidate decries personal attacks
A former Liberal MP now running as an NDP candidate in the western Quebec riding of Gatineau says a report in a French-language newspaper alleging she was pushed out of the Liberals is untrue and a result of "extreme-sport politics."
Francoise Boivin told a news conference that it was three years ago that she first disputed the allegation, which was just repeated in Le Devoir on Tuesday. The newspaper alleged she when she was a Liberal MP, she hired a woman who was her domestic partner, a breach of parliamentary rules.
Le Devoir cited Liberal sources in reporting that Boivin did not leave the party for philosophical reasons, as she has stated, but was instead pushed out for hiring her partner to work in her parliamentary office.
Boivin represented Gatineau as a Liberal from 2004 to 2006.
Boivin said Tuesday she knows parliamentary rules and has respected them. She called the allegation an attempt to taint her campaign and said she plans to serve Le Devoir legal notice to retract the claim.
"I have to defend my reputation based on arguments made by people who don't have the guts to come right here and face the consequences …," Boivin said. "Tell it [to] my face so I can prove otherwise."
Boivin did not want to speculate on the source of the allegation or which party was responsible, but she said when similar rumours first surfaced in 2005, she believed the Liberal Party was behind them.
Former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion acknowledged to reporters on Tuesday he made a decision as party leader to part ways with Boivin, but declined to go into the specifics.
"It has been a very difficult decision but we took it with a lot of discretion and sensitivity, and for this very reason I don't want to add anything about it," said Dion.
Boivin is one of the New Democratic Party's star candidates in Quebec and is running in what is widely regarded as a tight contest with incumbent Bloc Quebecois candidate Richard Nadeau and Liberal Steve MacKinnon.
NDP Leader Jack Layton, speaking in French Tuesday morning, called the allegation unacceptable and said the personal attack was an example of what is broken in Ottawa.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said he was surprised by the report and said his party doesn't want to engage in personal attacks.
"I'm a little surprised by this, because I've always believed I've had very good personal relationships with Francoise Boivin," Ignatieff said.
"We would never want to question or engage in personal attacks on people's personal life."
MacKinnon, her Liberal opponent in the riding, said he knew little of the circumstances surrounding Boivin's departure from the party, as he was working in the private sector at the time.
"My campaign has nothing to do with this story," said MacKinnon. "I can only express my personal admiration for Ms. Boivin."
The committee that sets rules for MPs bars members from hiring their spouses or children, their children's spouses or children, or their parents. But the Board of Internal Economy reviews each case individually and can make exceptions, said a spokesman for the House of Commons.
