Union leader was convicted drug producer

February 10, 2011


By Andrew McIntosh and Kinia Adamczyk, QMI Agency
MONTREAL — A plumber hired to lead a Quebec construction union local in 2006 was convicted in 2003 of running a clandestine marijuana grow operation that was shuttered after a Montreal Urban Community Police raid, a QMI Agency investigation has found.


Union leader Dominique Bérube’s April 2003 drug conviction came after officers raided a warehouse in Montreal’s north end in 2002 and discovered 530 marijuana plants inside.
Berubé pleaded guilty to one count of marijuana production — not drug trafficking. That move later allowed him to lead any union local in Quebec, despite the facts of his case.

Despite widespread concerns among Quebecers about convicted criminals infiltrating the construction industry, only convicted drug traffickers — not large scale grow–op producers — are barred from holding union office for five years after their sentences under what is called R-20, the law governing work in Quebec’s construction sector.

Bérubé declined to discuss his drug conviction.

‘’I have nothing to say about that,’’ he told a QMI Agency reporter by telephone.

Arnold Guérin, interim president of the FTQ Construction union, which has 70,000 members spread across 18 locals, said he did not know about Bérubé’s past troubles with the law.

Other FTQ Construction union leaders knew nothing about it, spokesman Eric Demers said.

Bérubé was hired in late 2005 and named director of local 618 of the FTQ construction union by the union’s former leader, Jocelyn Dupuis. His local 618 represents more than 300 pipefitters.

The same Dupuis is now facing charges of fraud and false invoicing after allegedly submitting $125,000 in forged and false expenses to the union, a scandal that forced him to resign. Dupuis also had reported links to convicted drug traffickers and biker gang members.
The union announcement of Bérubé’s appointment in January 2006 made no mention that four years earlier, the beefy Quebec strong man, whose feats are featured on YouTube, was arrested by Montreal police on a marijuana production charge.

Bérubé was charged on Feb. 15, 2002, after Montreal police officers secured a general warrant to break the locks on the doors and search an industrial warehouse on Armand Chaput in the Rivière des Praires on Feb. 6, Quebec Court records show.

Bérubé pleaded guilty on April 17, 2003. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail, but the sentence was suspended. He was also orderd to pay $1,000 to a crime victims group and perform 150 hours of community service.

Because of his drug conviction, he was slapped with a mandatory court order not to carry a firearm for 10 years. Judge Claude Vaillancourt ordered the drugs destroyed.

Bérubé’s criminal defense lawyer, was Benoit Cliche, who once accompanied Maurice "Mom" Boucher (leader of the outlawed Hells Angels biker gang in Quebec) to a court hearing, court records show. Cliche has also represented and defended other biker gang members.

Cliche was himself arrested on charges of gangsterism and obstruction of justice later in November 2003 amid links to gangsters and drug traffickers. A jury was left split following a 2007 trial and Cliché was not convicted. The Crown has since decided not to have a new trial.

Bérubé no stranger to controversies

This is not the first time Dominique Bérubé’s name has made headlines since Quebec’s FTQ Construction union has become embroiled in several crime and corruption controversies.

Bérubé’s name surfaced in 2009 after reports that he abruptly withdrew as a third candidate for a FTQ Construction union leadership election in 2008.

Bérubé quit the election following a restaurant meeting with Hells Angels member Jacques Israel Émond , who persuaded him to quit the race and vote for Dupuis’ favoured candidate, Richard Goyette. Was Bérubé threatened or offered anything by Emond?

"I have nothing to say," Berubé said when questioned by Radio-Canada.

Goyette was elected leader of the FTQ Construction union by a two-vote majority, defeating Bernard Girard. Goyette later said he was unaware of possible vote manipulation, and he has since left has job amid more union financial scandals.

McIntosh is the Investigations Editor for QMI Agency. He can be reached at andrew.mcintosh@agenceqmi.ca or 514-290-0922.