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Jean Filion

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Jean Filion
MNA for Montmorency
In office
1991–1998
Preceded byYves Séguin
Succeeded byJean-François Simard
Personal details
Born (1951-03-22) March 22, 1951 (age 73)
Quebec City, Quebec
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations
Parti Québécois (until 1995)

Jean Filion (born March 22, 1951) is a former Canadian politician who represented the electoral district of Montmorency in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1991 to 1998. He was a member of Parti Québécois.[1]

He was the party's candidate in Montmorency in the 1985 provincial election but lost to Yves Séguin of the Quebec Liberal Party. He was first elected in a by-election on August 12, 1991, following Séguin's resignation, and was reelected in the 1994 election.[1] He left the party to sit as an independent in 1995[2] and ran unsuccessfully for the mayoralty of Beauport in 1996.[1] He ran as an independent candidate in the 1998 election, but was defeated by Jean-François Simard.[3]

He was later charged with thirteen counts of fraud and breach of trust, after allegations that he diverted funds from his MNA expense budget into renovations for a building he owned.[4] He was convicted in 2004 on eight of the thirteen counts,[5] and sentenced to six months in jail. He was subsequently stripped of his designation as a chartered accountant by the Quebec Order of Chartered Accountants.[5]

Due to his conviction, the National Assembly withheld a sizable "transition payment" that he would have been entitled to as an outgoing MNA.[6] He filed a lawsuit against the provincial government in the Quebec Superior Court in 2012 for $52,617 in transition payments, $50,000 in moral damages and $42,000 to cover legal fees and expenses.[6] In February 2013, Superior Court Justice Suzanne Hardy-Lemieux ruled that he was entitled to partial compensation of $29,699 for the transition payments, but rejected his claim for additional damages and expenses.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Jean Filion". National Assembly of Quebec. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  2. ^ McKenzie, Robert (June 13, 1995). "Backbencher splits from PQ in row over provincial debt". Toronto Star. Quebec City, Quebec. p. A12. Retrieved March 26, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "How we voted". and "B13". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec. December 1, 1998. pp. B12–B13. Retrieved March 26, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Former MNA facing fraud charges". CBC News, April 9, 2000.
  5. ^ a b "Former politician loses right to practice accounting". Law in Quebec, November 5, 2009.
  6. ^ a b c "Former MNA Filion entitled to pay despite fraud"[permanent dead link]. The Gazette, February 12, 2013.