The village of Sainte-Pétronille, near Quebec City, did not violate the law when it threatened to sue one-tenth of its population and the local newspaper, an official investigation found, but its actions could hurt press freedom.
Documents obtained by The Globe and Mail show that legal and public relations services related to the saga cost the village more than $30,000 – about 1.5 per cent of its total annual budget.
In January, The Globe reported that Sainte-Pétronille 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 over allegations of misconduct.
The village also threatened to sue nearly 100 residents – out of a population of 1,055, according to the latest census – who raised concerns about the hire at a municipal council meeting in December.
The issue spurred widespread criticism and prompted an investigation by the Quebec Municipal Commission, a provincial body which investigates matters of municipal governance. Its 13-page report, made public Friday, found no “reprehensible acts” on the part of the municipality, despite several questionable decisions exacerbating a tense situation with a large part of its population.
Threatening to cut the local paper’s funding was “likely to harm press freedom, particularly given the context of financial precariousness which affects all media,” the report says. “The intervention of the Municipality’s attorney should have been more limited, even if it aimed to achieve a reasonable objective, namely the protection of the reputation of the general director.”
It recommends that Sainte-Pétronille adopt “a media relations policy which clearly excludes any link between media coverage and the financing or purchase of advertising.”
Éric-Pierre Champagne, the president of Quebec’s Professional Federation of Journalists, said the organization is pleased that the threat to press freedom was recognized, but thinks the findings did not go far enough. The commission “must understand that the problem was not only the threat of cutting off the media’s funding, but also, a priori, wanting to prevent it from reporting on public discussions,” he said in an e-mail.
Sending demand letters to 97 citizens “had the effect of worsening the situation,” the report says, highlighting continuing tensions between the municipality and unruly residents making potentially harmful allegations against Ms. Paquet. Nonetheless, it was under the village’s purview to undertake such legal actions to restore order and protect its general manager, the report says.
It recommends that the municipality request help from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing “to support it in the preparation of its sessions and to advise it in its relations with citizens.”
In a statement, Quebec Municipal Affairs Minister Andrée Laforest said she approved of the commission’s recommendations regarding media relations and ministry support for the village. “I hope the support will allow for healthy and open communication between the municipality and its citizens,” she said.
In March, The Globe reported that Sainte-Pétronille spent nearly $20,000 on legal fees in November and December last year, as the conflict unfolded. Additional receipts obtained through an access to information request show that the village spent an additional $11,139.87 with public relations firm TACT on “issue management.” Details of the invoices were redacted.
Sainte-Pétronille’s entire budget for 2024 amounts to little more than $2-million.
The controversy was sparked when Ms. Paquet applied more restrictive expense and management policies to volunteers running the municipal library, leading citizens to investigate her past amid the uproar. The report says Ms. Paquet’s decisions in this file – and the municipality’s decision to hire her – followed best practices.
It does not comment on whether allegations of misconduct in her previous job as a general manager of Val-des-Lacs, another Quebec village, were founded.
Sainte-Pétronille Mayor Jean Côté did not immediately answer The Globe’s request for comment.