Quebec Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis responds to Opposition questions over an alleged budget leak, a day before the financial plan was made public. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press) Quebec provincial police have begun investigating a potential leak of the Quebec budget.
Police will examine how elements of the budget got on a radio host’s Twitter page.
Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis would not confirm whether the details reported on Jeff Fillion’s page were accurate.
Fillion published the details on Monday night, almost a full day in advance of the budget being tabled.
Governments routinely disclose details of upcoming budgets. In Ottawa, it’s actually become a popular public-relations strategy in recent years.
However, problems can occur when the details get out by accident.
A TV reporter was slapped with criminal charges in 1989 when a source gave him, without the Mulroney government’s permission, details of the federal budget.
A provincial court judge later threw out those charges.
© The Canadian Press, 2010