Accurso Claims Quebec Liberals Donations Was Cost of Doing Business

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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On the fourth day of his ongoing testimony at the Charbonneau commission, humiliated Quebec construction boss, Tony Accurso, revealed that he made illegal donations amounting up to $90,000 a year to the Quebec Liberal Party in order to ensure the smooth running of his business empire. He alleged to have started giving illegal donations to the party of former premier, Jean Charest, at the special request of his chief fundraiser, Marc Bibeau, and considered it a cost of doing business.

In his remarks, Accurso alleged that he thought he was working on the advice of his deceased father, who told him to “never ask a politician to help you, just not to hurt you.” He stated that “I never ran after anyone to give them money. When the demands came in, we did what we had to do.” He revealed that during the time from 2001 to 2008, Accurso and his employees’ donations to the Quebec Liberals were at its peak.

Furthermore, Accurso mentioned in his testimony that it was duty of one of his vice presidents, Charles Caruana, to find employees who would write cheques for $3,000 made out to the Quebec Liberals and would be reimbursed by the company. He mentioned that “it was request that we had and the peak is surely due to the fact that Mr. Marc Bibeau became the fundraiser for the party … He called me personally. I met him at his office and he asked me for these sums year after year.”