City hall acrimony surfaces
IN AN ATTACk on Mayor Michael Applebaum, usually mild-mannered Alan DeSousa questions his credibility
“I felt it was important to go on public record in a sworn statement and present it to city council.” ST-LAURENT MAYOR ALAN DESOUSA
On Monday, longtime St-Laurent borough mayor Alan DeSousa stood up in city council before it was to vote on the 2013 budget and made a long and unprecedented presentation, blasting Mayor Michael Applebaum.
The presentation itself was exceptional. That it came from DeSousa, a wellrespected and even-tempered member of the executive committee for 11 years who has occupied most of the top positions, including head of finance and chairman, made it doubly so. It points to the level of acrimony that persists between Applebaum and some of his former party colleagues.
Sixty-four copies of the presentation, along with a corroborating sworn statement DeSousa had earlier presented to a lawyer, were distributed to the 64 city councillors. In the statement, DeSousa presents a meticulous timeline of events surrounding the notorious city budget that initially suggested a 3.3 per cent average tax increase for Montreal’s taxpayers.
In it, DeSousa essentially calls Applebaum a liar.
“I felt it was important to go on public record in a sworn statement and present it to city council … to set the record straight,” DeSousa said Friday. “It goes to the heart of what I view as individual integrity and the integrity of the person who seeks the mayoralty and the integrity of the administration that is currently in place.”
City residents, already among the most taxed in North America, revolted immediately after the budget was proposed. They did so in large part because the amount of the proposed tax hike was almost exactly equivalent to the percentage witnesses at the Charbonneau Commission testified they had to pay to Union Montreal officials in bribes in order to secure lucrative city contracts.
The fact that the number was the same was pure coincidence, but in politics optics are everything, and these optics helped spur the resignation of mayor Gérald Tremblay six days after the initial “3.3 per cent” budget was first presented. Nearly half of his Union Montreal members defected from the party soon afterwards to sit as independents. Eleven years of Union Montreal domination went up in smoke in the space of a few weeks.
In his sworn statement, DeSousa notes Applebaum, who was chairman of the executive committee and responsible for finance at the time, recommended on Oct. 30 that the executive committee adopt the budget with its 3.3-per-cent increase.
The executive committee did so.
Days later, as the populace exhibited its disgruntlement, DeSousa said members of the executive committee suggested the matter be brought before caucus to discuss changes. He added that Union Montreal’s Richard Deschamps suggested a means of dropping the tax hike to 2.2 per cent, but preferred to wait until council’s finance committee finished public consultations on the matter before deciding.
“This was the Applebaum budget of 3.3 per cent, the same Applebaum who in 48 hours turned himself inside out to deny that was his wish and hope,” DeSousa said. “Pulling a 180-degree turn in 48 hours is quite remarkable in a $4.9-billion budget.”
The next day, Nov. 8, Union Montreal voted for Deschamps as their candidate for interim mayor, over Applebaum.
The day after that, Applebaum resigned as chairman, citing the fact that the executive committee was refusing to reduce the tax hike. With the help of a rapidly assembled coalition of opposition party members and independent councillors who fled Union Montreal, Applebaum was elected interim mayor.
To date, the coalition government of Applebaum has worked smoothly and presented its executive committee meetings in the open. DeSousa protests that Union Montreal held open meetings, too. At least two or three times a year. But the executive meets every week, and since it was elected to its latest mandate in 2009, none of the meetings had been public.
Applebaum portrays the new mix of party members and independent councillors on the executive committee, the city’s main decisionmaking body, as a historic coalition of opposing ideas coming together for the betterment of Montrealers.
DeSousa scoffs. The coalition, he said, was essentially a handing over of power to Vision Montreal, with most of the important positions given to Vision members in exchange for Applebaum getting the mayoralty.
“To get the necessary votes, he gave away the store,” DeSousa claims.
DeSousa denies his presentation is born of bitterness, although his tone in radio and television interviews seems to belie that statement. He said he is only concerned about keeping his reputation clear.
In response to DeSousa’s assertions, Jonathan Abecassis, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said it was a shame DeSousa didn’t want to “move beyond partisan politics” and embrace the new spirit of working together the coalition government embodies.
He did not, however, respond to the question of whether or not DeSousa’s assertions were true.