Corruption-fighting tools already in place, Coderre says
The mayor of the city identified as ground zero for much of the corruption unearthed by the Charbonneau commission said Montreal has already put in place the tools necessary to combat collusion that was endemic in several areas.
The city and Mayor Denis Coderre’s party, however, will not be embarking on a “witch hunt” to jettison party members, including three borough mayors, identified by witnesses in the report as benefactors of illegal political donations from contractors and businesses as opposition party Projet Montréal demanded. The opposition party also suggested the city needs to “clean house” and lessen its dependence on the private market by increasing the internal expertise of its own employees.
“I think before the report we had already heard the message. The reason I came forward (to be mayor) in Montreal was to do a cleanup,” Coderre said. “We put in place the inspector general that allowed a process of accountability that can protect the public interest and the taxpayer.”
The city’s comptroller and auditor general, who head independent departments mandated to oversee the financial and regulatory wellbeing of the city, as well as the inspector general department that he created after his election in 2013, provide a series of “checks and balances” that has shown the city can protect itself from corruption and collusion, Coderre said.
A report of the inspector general’s office released Monday that indicated roughly 20 contractors are still colluding to control the snow-clearing industry in more than half of the city’s boroughs, is proof of the system’s efficacity, Coderre said, because the department uncovered the stratagems, as did the city’s auditor general, in 2014. The inspector general has sent his report to Canada’s Competition Bureau for investigation and to mete out punishment if warranted.
There will always be individuals who try to cheat the system, Coderre said. The key is to remain vigilant. A comptroller’s report from last year has shown the price of contracts has already dropped, he said.
“Is it going to happen again? Probably. It’s an ongoing issue,” he said. “But it’s not like we’re sitting on our hands and that’s it.”
Projet Montréal called on Coderre to remove three borough mayors from his party because they are named by witnesses cited in the Charbonneau report as individuals who benefitted from “turnkey” elections, in which contractors and engineering firms provided cash donations in the expectation of future contracts.
Projet Montréal Leader Luc Ferrandez noted the mayors of St-Léonard, Michel Bissonnet, and Montreal-North, Gilles Deguire, were mentioned by name in the report by witness and former Union Montreal fundraiser Bernard Trépannier, who detailed a long-running operation of collecting illegal donations from companies. Trépannier refers to councillors and the candidates of Union Montreal running in the St-Laurent borough benefiting from illegal political donations between 2004 and 2009, Projet Montréal noted. All involved have denied the allegations in the past. In addition, several members of Coderre’s party served with the former Union Montreal party (under mayor Gérald Tremblay), which was accused repeatedly throughout the commission of taking illegal donations.
“The commission has sent an alarm,” Ferrandez said. “It is calling on Mr. Coderre to drastically change the way he governs Montreal. … The first point is with his team.”
Coderre said mentions in the Charbonneau report come from witness testimony, and that no one has been formally accused or blamed.
“If someone is just provided as a witness and gives his side of the story, does that mean that individual should be expelled?” Coderre said. “If there is an accusation I am not going to defend the indefensible. But there is no accusation, there is no blame. People have to be careful what kind of society they want to live in.”
Projet Montréal applauded some of the report’s recommendations that mirror its own priorities. They include increasing the internal expertise of municipal employees to lessen dependence on private contractors and improve knowledge for cost estimates and overseeing construction sites. Instead, the party said, the city is cutting workers as part of its five-year employee reduction plan, and increasing its capital works budget, requiring more inspectors, and more contracts with private firms.
The report also recommends the city tighten its rules on lobbying and provide councillors and the public with details of contracts days before they have to vote on them at city council to allow time for study, and not the day of, as is the case now.