20110427-105606-gPatrick Lagacé, Special to The Globe and Mail

Patrick Lagacé is a columnist with La Presse.

In March 2009, unbeknown to him, union man and Quebec Liberal Party member Eddy Brandone was being followed by the Sûreté du Québec. The SQ was tracking Mr. Brandone as part of a then-secret criminal investigation code-named Opération Diligence, that was peeking into the relationship between the Fédération des travailleurs du Québec and unnamed politicians.

That day, Mr. Brandone was seen at the restaurant of the W Hotel, then travelled to a non-descript building in Montreal’s north end, where he met with a member of the Fonds de solidarité du Québec, the FTQ’s $10-billion investment fund.

Then, Mr. Brandone went to a hotel in Montreal’s west end. There was a conference with Inuit leaders at the hotel. Attending the conference was Jean Charest, then Quebec’s Premier. Mr. Brandone, according to Radio-Canada, who broke the story in the midst of the 2012 election campaign, went straight for Mr. Charest, shook his hand and had a chat with the Premier.

Then, a funny thing happened: The SQ immediately stopped following Mr. Brandone. In police parlance, that’s called a “black out”.