Tremblay goes into hiding, cancels on Board of Trade

Angry that he was again being asked about corruption allegations Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay told reporters Tuesday, “I’m not hiding. I am present. I am not sick.”

But on Wednesday, the mayor was missing in action. He was unavailable to the media and he cancelled two public events.

As Montrealers — many in Halloween costumes — set off to work Wednesday morning, Tremblay showed a new side of himself.

With only 48 hours notice, he cancelled a keynote speech to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal set for Friday, an unprecedented event for the province’s largest board of trade.

Tremblay was also a no-show at a scheduled afternoon press conference at city hall. “I have no indication that the mayor is hiding. He was with us this morning,” executive committee member Helen Fotopulos said.

“He had a sudden appointment … a change of plan,” Fotopulos told a room packed with reporters wanting to know if increased pressure on Tremblay to quit would translate into a resignation.

Minutes earlier, a Tremblay aide had told The Gazette that the mayor was in his office, occupied with unanticipated business.

Both Fotopulos and aide Martine Painchaud insisted that Tremblay had simply “postponed” the board of trade speech set for Friday.

But board officials were equally insistent that Tremblay telephoned to cancel.

“I spoke to Mr. Tremblay this morning. He called to tell me he preferred to cancel Friday’s event,” board president Michel Leblanc said.

“The reality is that he thinks people aren’t listening to his economic message. That’s what he told me.”

More than 300 people were expected to attend the speech that had been slated to follow Tuesday’s release of the Montreal’s 2013 budget.

Last week, an embattled Tremblay said he would be touting his record as a three-term mayor of Montreal in that speech.

Tremblay has steadfastly denied allegations of wrongdoing, saying that they would be addressed at the Charbonneau Commission or an appropriate time.

On Tuesday, he said he would not divert his attention from the running of the city to answer every fresh allegation but neither would he hide or call in sick.

That latter point was a reference to the leave of absence taken by embattled Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt, apparently on the advice of his doctor.

Tremblay, 70, has also insisted he would not resign his current term of office but would soon disclose whether he intended to run for office again.

On Wednesday, it was left to Fotopulos to answer fresh speculation that Tremblay is preparing to resign.

This comes in the wake of Tuesday’s testimony at the Charbonneau Commission by a former political organizer that the mayor turned a blind eye to illegal campaign funding.

“Right now the mayor has to make the announcements that he will make. That is his responsibility,” said Fotopulos, adding that her attention was focused on her mandate of culture and heritage.

Tuesday night, Frantz Benjamin, a Union Montreal councillor representing St-Michel district, quit Tremblay’s party.

On Wednesday, Fotopulos skated around the question about whether she maintains confidence in Tremblay. The veteran politician said her “solidarity was with the executive” committee.

And she refused to comment on a call for Tremblay’s resignation by Quebec’s largest public sector union.

“Gérald Tremblay no longer has the credibility and confidence (of the public) necessary to govern Montreal city hall,” Gaétan Châteauneuf, head of the CSN’s Montreal central committee said Wednesday.