MONTREAL - The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) believes it would be unacceptable for Martine Ouellet to occupy both the position of member of the National Assembly and federal leader of the Bloc Québécois.

"It is not up to the Quebec taxpayers to finance the political ambitions of Martine Ouellet at the federal level," said FCC director Carl Vallée. "Her work as a member of Quebec's Parliament is a full-time one and the citizens of the riding of Vachon deserve the full attention of their representative in the National Assembly. She can not have both the butter and the butter money, she will have to choose. It's one or the other." (photo Martine Ouellet Wikipedia/FrankyLeRetoir)

In the legal sense, there is no tool to prevent Ms. Ouellet from using this kind of ploy, but the CTF appeals to her ethical judgment to dissuade her. For example, Quebec still does not have a mechanism whereby citizens of a constituency can get rid of an elected official who no longer represents them while continuing to be paid, as is available in other jurisdictions.

"The partisan activities of the Bloc would be indirectly subsidized by the budget of the National Assembly, which, in our opinion, poses a certain ethical problem," added Mr. Vallée. "The Bloc Québécois, formerly champions of ethical issues, should instead encourage Ms. Ouellet to try to be elected to the federal Parliament under the Bloc banner at the next opportunity."