ELECTION TAX PLEDGE
‘Amateurism’: Ferrandez
Mayor Valérie Plante rejected an accusation from within her own ranks Wednesday that her administration showed “amateurism” in promising not to raise property taxes above the rate of inflation — and then doing so once elected.
The barb came from one of her top lieutenants — Plateau-MontRoyal borough Mayor Luc Ferrandez — who told 98.5 FM radio host Paul Arcand that the flip-flop on taxes is the reason Plante’s popularity has plummeted, according to a poll released Wednesday.
“It was really a mistake on our part,” Ferrandez, the executive committee member responsible for large parks and the environment, said in the on-air interview.
“We made a mistake. We never, never should have promised that in the election campaign. It was amateurism.”
But Plante brushed off Ferrandez’s comment when speaking with reporters after a meeting of the city’s executive committee.
“Amateurism: I won’t hide from you that that is far from defining our administration,” she said.
“I think he chose the wrong word. It’s more the idea that we should have been more careful when we talked about taxes during the election campaign. Because we didn’t have access to the books, obviously we should have been more careful because we didn’t know the state of the finances,” Plante said.
“We agreed, he and I, that he should have used the words ‘be careful’ instead (of ‘amateurism’),” she said.
Plante also said she was not fazed by the Ipsos poll for LaPresse, which indicated that she would have lost the election to former mayor Denis Coderre if the election had been held this week, get- ting 37 per cent of votes compared to 40 per cent for Coderre.
It also showed that 59 per cent of Montrealers are dissatisfied with Plante’s administration and 77 per cent disapprove of the 3.3 per cent tax increase.
The poll indicated that 66 per cent are pleased with Plante’s decision to end the Formula E event and 74 per cent approve the purchase of 300 more buses for the Société de Transport de Montréal (STM).
But 66 per cent are unhappy with her administration’s handling of snow removal.
The poll of 502 Montrealers was done partly online and partly by telephone from Feb. 2-6.
Plante said it doesn’t bother her that her administration’s honeymoon with voters seems to be over just three months after the election.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never believed in the notion of a honeymoon,” she said.
Plante said voters chose her as “the mayor of mobility” and she is delivering on such promises as acquiring 300 new hybrid buses and spending $20 million on land for affordable housing.
“People elected me for very specific reasons and that’s what I am putting forward,” she said.
Plante said that even though she rebuked Fernandez for his choice of words, she had no intention of muzzling him or other members of the executive committee.
“We’re a team, and unlike the previous administration, I have always chosen to let members of the executive committee speak because they have the expertise and the knowledge,” she said.
“There is no question of saying to my members: ‘Don’t say another word.’ That’s absolutely not my leadership style,” Plante said.
“On the other hand, for sure Mr. Ferrandez and I talked and he told me, ‘Valérie, I should have chosen a different word,’ ” she said.
Plante’s very bad day at the office capped off what has been a rocky month, with her administration coming under fire for the tax hike and its handling of snow and ice removal.
But Harold Chorney, a professor of political economy at Concordia University, said that a bad poll and a tactless comment do not constitute a crisis, especially so early in Plante’s mandate.
“One poll probably doesn’t tell you much four years from an election,” he said.
“You can have polls two months before an election that are completely wrong,” he noted.
Chorney said it was naive for Projet Montréal to promise not to raise taxes by more than the rate of inflation, considering that major cities like Montreal are under tremendous pressure to provide a wide range of services, yet receive insufficient funding from higher levels of government.
Essential services like snow removal are what voters care about most, Chorney said.
“They’re way behind the eight ball in terms of keeping the roads clean,” he said.
As for Ferrandez, he should learn to keep his mouth shut, Chorney said.
“It’s a bit of a blunder on his part.”
Because we didn’t have access to the books, obviously we should have been more careful.