MONTREAL - Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois is suing a rival opposition member for trying to link her to a financial scandal.

Marois filed a $900,000 lawsuit against the Action democratique du Quebec's Gilles Taillon in Quebec Superior Court on Friday. The lawsuit claims Taillon, the ADQ's finance critic, made "false and defamatory" comments about Marois.

Taillon accused Marois of pressuring bureaucrats into giving a $1-million tax credit to investment firm Norbourg when she was finance minister in 2001.

Norbourg's president, Vincent Lacroix, was handed a 12-year prison sentence earlier this year for bilking some 9,200 mostly small-time investors out of $115 million.

Taillon claimed that without the tax credit, Norbourg would have gone out of business before Lacroix started his scam.

The PQ leader said Friday she welcomes spirited debates with her rivals, but draws the line at "defamatory and untrue exchanges."

Marois served as Quebec's finance minister between 2001 and 2002.

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