Marc Cochrane, editor-in-chief of the Autour de l’Ile newspaper, in Quebec City on Jan. 19.Mathieu Belanger/The Globe and Mail
Sainte-Pétronille, a village near Quebec City, spent nearly $20,000 in legal fees in 2023 – or about 1 per cent of its entire budget – to threaten legal action against its citizens and a local newspaper, records obtained by The Globe and Mail show.
In January, The Globe reported that the village had threatened to sue the local paper, Autour de l’Île, and cut its funding to prevent the publication of a story about the municipality’s general manager, Nathalie Paquet, who was fired from her previous job in another municipality over allegations of misconduct.
Sainte-Pétronille also threatened to sue nearly 100 residents – one-10th of the village’s population – who raised concerns about the hire at a municipal council meeting in December.
The controversy spurred widespread criticism, including by Quebec’s Federation of Professional Journalists, and prompted an investigation by the Quebec Municipal Commission.
The Globe filed an access to information request with the village asking, among other things, for all invoices by the law firm Therrien Couture Joli-Coeur, which sent formal notices to citizens and the local paper on behalf of Sainte-Pétronille.
The village’s general manager, Ms. Paquet, handled the request and sent back two heavily redacted invoices “for professional services and disbursements” incurred for the periods ending Nov. 20 and Dec. 31, 2023.
The November invoice totals $4,882.89, and the December invoice is for $14,168.87. Sainte-Pétronille’s entire budget for 2023 amounted to $1,951,713. Details of the services were redacted “to preserve professional secrecy,” Ms. Paquet wrote in her response letter to The Globe.
Natalie Dufour, a Sainte-Pétronille resident who received one of the formal notices, said she and her fellow citizens “are completely scandalized” by the costs.
“It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money, and what’s more, it’s not over,” Ms. Dufour said.
The total is likely to be higher, as more work was undertaken by the law firm in January. Sainte-Pétronille also hired public-relations firm TACT to deal with the media attention it received after the controversy was reported by multiple outlets. The Globe also requested invoices related to these services, but Ms. Paquet said that no invoice from TACT existed then.
Sainte-Pétronille Mayor Jean Côté did not answer The Globe’s request for comment.