Quebec hearings begin into who knew what regarding sale of Rona Inc.
QUEBEC — The former chief of staff to a cabinet minister who has just resigned contradicted his ex-boss Thursday at a special legislature hearing into the controversial purchase of hardware firm Rona Inc. by Lowe’s.
Pierre Ouellet told committee members that Jacques Daoust was informed about the intention of government agency Investissement Quebec to sell its 11 million Rona shares for $140 million in 2014, two years before Lowe’s paid $3.2 billion for the Quebec giant.
Daoust, who was economy minister in 2014, has always maintained he and the government were not consulted about the sale of the Rona shares before it took place.
In an Aug. 19 statement when he announced his resignation, Daoust wrote he “wasn’t informed of the intention of the administrators of Investissement Quebec to sell their shares in Rona.”