Jean Filion

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}

{{Infobox officeholder | name= Jean Filion

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| birth_date={{birth date and age|1951|3|22}}

| birth_place=Quebec City, Quebec

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| party= Independent

| otherparty= Parti Québécois (until 1995)

| residence=

| office=MNA for Montmorency

| term_start=1991

| term_end=1998

| predecessor= Yves Séguin

| successor=Jean-François Simard

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Jean Filion (born March 22, 1951) is a former Canadian politician who represented the electoral district of Montmorency in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1991 to 1998. He was a member of Parti Québécois.{{cite web |url=http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/deputes/filion-jean-3147/biographie.html |title=Jean Filion |author= |date= |website= |publisher=National Assembly of Quebec |access-date=March 26, 2024}}

He was the party's candidate in Montmorency in the 1985 provincial election but lost to Yves Séguin of the Quebec Liberal Party. He was first elected in a by-election on August 12, 1991, following Séguin's resignation, and was reelected in the 1994 election. He left the party to sit as an independent in 1995{{cite news |last=McKenzie |first=Robert |date=June 13, 1995 |title=Backbencher splits from PQ in row over provincial debt |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-backbencher-splits-from/144204935/ |work=Toronto Star |location=Quebec City, Quebec |page=A12 |access-date=March 26, 2024 |via=newspapers.com}} and ran unsuccessfully for the mayoralty of Beauport in 1996. He ran as an independent candidate in the 1998 election, but was defeated by Jean-François Simard.{{cite news |author= |title=How we voted |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-gazette-how-we-voted/144205524/}} and {{cite news |title=B13 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-gazette-page-b13/144205642/ |date=December 1, 1998 |work=The Gazette |location=Montreal, Quebec |pages=B12-B13 |access-date=March 26, 2024 |via=newspapers.com}}

He was later charged with thirteen counts of fraud and breach of trust, after allegations that he diverted funds from his MNA expense budget into renovations for a building he owned.[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/former-mna-facing-fraud-charges-1.212615 "Former MNA facing fraud charges"]. CBC News, April 9, 2000. He was convicted in 2004 on eight of the thirteen counts,"Former politician loses right to practice accounting". Law in Quebec, November 5, 2009. and sentenced to six months in jail. He was subsequently stripped of his designation as a chartered accountant by the Quebec Order of Chartered Accountants.

Due to his conviction, the National Assembly withheld a sizable "transition payment" that he would have been entitled to as an outgoing MNA.[https://montrealgazette.com/news/Former+Jean+Filion+entitled+despite+fraud+conviction/7955150/story.html "Former MNA Filion entitled to pay despite fraud"]{{Dead link|date=October 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. The Gazette, February 12, 2013. He filed a lawsuit against the provincial government in the Quebec Superior Court in 2012 for $52,617 in transition payments, $50,000 in moral damages and $42,000 to cover legal fees and expenses. In February 2013, Superior Court Justice Suzanne Hardy-Lemieux ruled that he was entitled to partial compensation of $29,699 for the transition payments, but rejected his claim for additional damages and expenses.