Search for chief is ‘not very far along,’ city says
Montreal is “not very far along ” in its search for a new police chief, city councillor Alex Norris said Monday amid speculation that inspector-general Denis Gallant is under consideration for the job.
On Monday, Gallant, formerly a star prosecutor for the Charbonneau Commission into corruption, told an interviewer he plans to step down a few months before his contract as inspector general ends in February 2019.
That timing could coincide with the departure of interim police chief Martin Prud’homme, whose contract ends Dec. 31.
Norris, the chairperson of the city’s public-security committee, confirmed he had heard that Gallant would be leaving before the end of his contract.
Gallant said in an interview with La Presse that he is looking at his career options and has several possibilities.
“We are very appreciative for the rigour of the work he has done,” Norris said after an afternoon meeting of city council.
On Monday, Gallant submitted his annual report, part of which was made public last week, to the city.
It revealed that a garbage company, Services Environnementaux Richelieu, had charged the Verdun and Sud- Ouest boroughs for trash it collected in other municipalities outside Montreal.
City council approved the cancellation of the two contracts with the company on Monday.
While Norris praised Gallant’s work as inspector general, he said “it’s really premature to name any names (of candidates for police chief ) at this stage.”
“We want to depoliticize the role of police chief and we want to ensure that we will find a process that will get the best possible person,” he said.
Norris also said the city has not made a decision on whether the next chief will be a civilian or a police officer.
“There are many factors that we have to take into consideration in choosing a police chief,” he said.
CIVILIAN CHIEF?
While the city has not ruled out breaking with tradition by naming a civilian chief, he said, “knowledge of police matters, of policing, of the techniques and police management is also very important. We haven’t closed the door on any option at this point.”
In December, Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux tasked Prud’homme, the chief of the Sûreté du Québec, with fixing Montreal’s troubled force after a report revealed a toxic culture of cliques and ethical breaches, particularly in the Internal Affairs Division, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by police officers.
In February, Prud’homme announced he was trimming the top brass in the Montreal police department from 11 managers to four and restructuring its Internal Affairs Division.
Last month, the city’s public security commission began holding its meetings in public, signalling a new era of transparency on policing, according to Norris.
In February, suspended police chief Philippe Pichet was reassigned to supervise the city’s security guards.
Also during the meeting, Mayor Valérie Plante continued to fend off attacks by opposition councillors over the pilot project to shut down through traffic on Mount Royal from June 1 to Oct. 31.
Plante said too many cars use Camillien-Houde Way and Remembrance Rd. as a shortcut and it’s time to take action.
“We have the courage,” she said. But Francesco Miele, the Ensemble Montréal city councillor for Côte-de-Liesse, retorted, “Courage would have been to consult the public beforehand.”
Plante has announced that consultations will be heard before, during and after the pilot project, but that the pilot project will not be halted.
During the evening question period, Plante responded to questions from citizens demanding the city step in to save the Jardin Domtar, an award-winning square behind the Place-des-Arts métro station. Owned by Domtar, it was inaugurated as a green space open to the general public in 2002. However, the property has been sold to a developer.
Plante and Luc Ferrandez, the member of the executive committee responsible for parks, said the city is unable to stop a real estate project on the site short of acquiring the land.
She said the situation is deplorable since every bit of green space in the downtown core should be saved.
About 100 members of the city ’s white-collar union demonstrated outside city hall to protest against work schedules that the union says prevent many of the city’s 8,000 white-collar workers from working flexible working hours even though their contract allows them to do so.