Car race was a strange hill for Denis Coderre to die on
Report confirms former mayor was willing to defy good sense in pursuit of his goal
Montrealers didn’t need the damning Bureau de l’inspecteur général report, delivered this week, to tell them there was something seriously off about the way former mayor Denis Coderre foisted the ePrix electric car race on the city last summer.
Citizens — those frustrated by weeks of their neighbourhood being under siege from traffic disruptions, late-night paving work and giant fences obstructing their movements last July, as well as those irked by the mayor’s obfuscation about the cost, attendance and ticket sales long after the checkered flag had dropped — had their say at the ballot box in November.
But the BIG report is devastating nonetheless. It confirms not so much that Coderre was determined to bring the Formula E to Montreal at all costs, but that he was willing to defy good sense in order to do it at any cost.
The city’s contracts watchdog found the former mayor ignored legal advice, favoured Evenko as the promoter, bent rules and flouted transparency obligations. The BIG determined the non-profit set up to run the race, Montréal c’est éléctrique, was really a “vehicle” created by city hall to shield operations from scrutiny, qualify it for public subsidies and essentially put Coderre in the driver’s seat of an event he alone seemed to want.
Certainly no one else did. Local residents and merchants didn’t want their neighbourhoods taken over by the course and stands. The Quebec government didn’t want to pony up the $12 million it was asked to contribute, providing just $400,000 instead. Even Evenko, the promoter Coderre had manoeuvred to put in charge of the race, didn’t want to be on the hook for what it correctly predicted would be a moneyloser. So it came on board as a supplier only.
Instead of heeding these caution signs, Coderre put up $24 million of public money to bring the ePrix to Montreal for what turned out to be the one and only time. Once elected, Mayor Valérie Plante mercifully pulled the plug on the next two years of this financial, political and logistical fiasco, probably incurring penalties and legal costs as a result. By that point, Montréal c’est éléctrique had burned through a $10-million line of credit and still had $6.5 million in unpaid bills. Staging the race again was going to cost another $10 million just for the track, Plante said, so she had to cut the losses. No sense throwing good money after bad.
Why was the Formula E so important that Coderre as good as staked his political fortunes on it?
The electrification of transport — which he has described as his ultimate objective — is a laudable cause. But there are other ways to achieve that goal without ramming an unpopular vanity project down people’s throats. It apparently wasn’t to please Evenko, which was recruited to participate and sought to minimize its involvement. This car race was a very strange hill to die on, indeed.
The obstinacy displayed was classic Coderre. It speaks to a no-holds-barred leadership style that he made no apologies for before, during or after he paid the ultimate political price for his folly and was booted from office.
But there’s courage and then there’s bullheadedness. There’s doing unpopular things out of conviction and then there’s doubling down on a bad idea. There’s going for broke and then there’s breaking all the rules. There’s taking risks and then there’s failing to learn from past mistakes.
Speaking to various media in the wake of the BIG report, an unbowed Coderre accused Plante of cancelling the ePrix before it had a chance to catch on and recoup some of its costs. And he defended the merits of his dream once again.
In his eyes, the ends justify the means and he is still right despite scathing evidence to the contrary.
If this stubbornness contributed to Coderre’s Icarus-like fall from grace, this lack of humility and introspection won’t serve him well if he is plotting a political comeback. In fact, it may sink his chances outright if authorities more powerful than the BIG decide to launch their own probe.
The ePrix debacle long ago crystallized in Montrealers’ minds as a symbol of all they didn’t like about their ambitious and bombastic former mayor, a view largely based on perception until now.
The BIG report is an indictment of Coderre’s political instincts, judgment, priorities and leadership. By not listening to experts, legal advice, the public or reason itself, he showed that this problem is not just a matter of style, but one of major substance.