Mayor denies he’s holding secret meetings at city hall

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre says he did not change city hall security procedures so he could secretly meet with lobbyists, businesspeople and contractors.

Coderre was reacting to an article in the Métro newspaper that revealed that since March 2014, city hall visitors no longer must sign in when visiting Coderre. The report said that has allowed contractors, businesspeople and lobbyists to meet the mayor without leaving a trace of the encounters.

“To create innuendo and say that it’s because I want to meet secretly with lobbyists is unacceptable,” Coderre told reporters.

“I did not come back to politics for that. I came back to bring back integrity to this city, and we’ve been doing that.”

Coderre noted his office “is next to the hall. Everybody knows who is coming.”

He said the procedure was put in place to improve security at a time when the city was involved in a bitter dispute with unions.

All lobbyists must register with the provincial government before meeting city officials, Coderre said, adding that his administration has tough contract-management rules and an inspector general who reviews contracts.

“It’s altogether transparent and it’s normal that we can have private meetings,” he said.

Coderre was asked how anybody will know whether he met with a lobbyist if the lobbyist doesn’t sign in.

“You don’t have to worry about it — I didn’t come to Montreal’s mayoralty to play games,” he answered.

“We’re open and transparent and there are cameras everywhere. And if there are security guards who talk to you for your articles, there are others who will tell you things that are going on at city hall.”

Métro cited a March 2014 memo sent to city hall security guards.

It says that for visitors arriving to meet with Coderre or his chief of staff, one of three people from Coderre’s office must be notified.

Unlike other visitors, they do not have to sign in, a procedure that’s still in place, security guards told Métro.

“Is there a register for the opposition? There isn’t one,” Coderre said when asked about the memo.

“Is it because they’re playing games, no. So for me it’s a nonissue.”

He then cut off questions about the matter.

Projet Montréal Leader Valérie Plante, for her part, said she has “no problem making public the list of people who visit Projet Montréal. It’s done in the federal and provincial governments. I don’t know why the list (of city hall guests) isn’t public.”

She said: “The question is, why did the mayor send a memo saying now we want all guests of the mayor and his chief of cabinet not to be made public?”

Plante said she wants to “to reestablish confidence and bring best practices. The least we can do is be transparent with our guests. It’s also a good way to protect against conflicts of interests or the appearance of conflict of interest with lobbyists to assure that citizens have confidence in their elected officials.”