CAQ offers to reimburse the bereaved couple for their donation

The Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) is offering to compensate a grieving couple who paid $200 to meet with Transport Minister Genevieve Guilbeau to talk about the fight against drunk driving.

On Friday morning, Prime Minister François Legault's party confirmed it had contacted couple Antoine Bittar and Elizabeth Rivera over the fundraising controversy.

CAQ executive director Brigitte Legault said in a text message that the party had offered the couple a refund and respected their decision.

Bittar and Rivera have been on a crusade to lower the province's blood-alcohol limit from 0.08 to 0.05 (50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood) since losing their daughter to a drunk driver in 2017.

At a parliamentary committee on Thursday, Rivera said a staff member in MNA Marilyn Pickard's office offered them an opportunity to meet the minister at a fundraising event.

They had to pay $100 per person to get two minutes per person. The couple paid $200.

The opposition strongly condemned this method of fundraising.

Picard and Guilbault apologized, but accused the opposition parties of political healing.

— This Canadian Press report was first published in French on February 9, 2024.