#SureteduQuebec: Meet the Old Boss… #SQ #Quebec

The province’s top cop is moving on. 

Public Security Minister Lise Thériault announced Wednesday that Mario Laprise, director general of the Sûreté du Québec, will be leaving his post before the end of his term. 

Thériault said Laprise, named in October 2012 by the previous Parti Québécois government, would be returning to where he worked before the PQ plucked him, Hydro-Québec. 

The announcement ends months of speculation on Laprise’s future. The Liberals considered him too close to the PQ, with observers believing his days were numbered when the Liberals took power. 

Laprise’s contract was to have run to 2017. Before he headed the SQ, he was responsible for industrial security at hydro. 

Laprise took over from Richard Deschesnes who was named by the Liberals but dumped by the PQ during the 18 months it formed the provincial government. 

Deschesnes also never got to finish his full term in the game of political ping-pong surrounding such critical top jobs. 

Thériault, however, insisted the change was not politically motivated and Laprise himself requested the change. 

“He (Laprise) expressed an interest in returning to Hydro-Québec,” Thériault said at a news conference in Quebec City. “Mr. Laprise did an incredible job. He is very happy to return to hydro.” 

She refused to provide details behind the changing of the guard or the kind of financial settlement involved in moving such a top mandarin. 

Acting on orders from Premier Philippe Couillard, Thériault instead announced she is creating a search committee to recommend a successor. 

During the election campaign, Couillard said he wanted to make such appointments less political. 

Thériault said the new director general would be in place by December.