Denis Gallant
Is the mayor’s pick as inspector general to oversee city contracts.
After more than a year of interrogating corrupt contractors, Mafia middlemen and bribed bureaucrats on how they bilked millions from public works contracts, l awyer Denis Gallant is poised to police the city’s contract awarding process on a full-time basis.
Famous in the province for his rigorous prosecution at the Charbonneau Commission into corruption, Gallant is the mayor’s candidate to become Montreal’s new inspector general, responsible for overseeing contracts issued by the city. The nomination must be approved by two-thirds of the city’s 65-member council, which next meets Feb. 24.
Gallant will create and oversee a $5-million-a-year department of roughly two dozen employees with the power to sift through contractors’ computer records, fine noncompliant businesses up to $250,000 and put a stop to ongoing contracts
“He is, for me, a source of extraordinary credibility.”
MAYOR DENIS CODERRE
deemed fraudulent. If hired, he will earn $260,000 a year.
“He is, for me, a source of extraordinary credibility, who because of his vast experience will serve as an outstanding first inspector general,” Mayor Denis Coderre said. Between the anti-corruption police force UPAC overseeing criminal activities and the creation of the inspector general post monitoring the administration, Coderre added, “it will be tough for anyone to try and screw the system.”
Gallant’s possible role was clarified Wednesday when Municipal Affairs Minister Sylvain Gaudreault presented Bill 73 in Quebec’s National Assembly outlining the post’s powers. His mandate is to “oversee contracting processes and the carrying out of contracts by the city or a legal person related to the city.”
He will have to recommend measures to prevent breaches in integrity when drawing up contracts or carrying them out. His office will have the power to enter any prem- ises owned by the city or by contractors hired by the city, or their subcontractors, to go through their documents, question employees and search through computer files. If there is an issue, Gallant will have the power to suspend or cancel the contract. Those who refuse to co-operate with the investigation can be fined. Administrative boards of companies or organizations can protest against the decisions.
The inspector general’s office will also have an anonymous whistleblowers’ line to receive information, and will probably take over the ethics hotline operated by the city’s comptroller general, Coderre said.
Opposition councillors at city hall criticized the post, however, saying it lacked power.
“I think it’s just Denis Coderre wanting to say he fulfilled his promise, rather than actually solving the problem,” said Mélanie Joly, leader of the Vrai Changement pour Montréal.
Projet Montréal leader Richard Bergeron approved of the choice of Gallant, but said the post has two serious flaws: decisions of the inspector general can be overturned by the administrative councils of the city’s paramunicipal organization under investigatio n, such as the Société de transport de Montréal, without the public knowing about it. And the inspector general’s report must be submitted to the mayor as much as 29 days before it goes before council, allowing the mayor to make significant changes.
Gallant responded that if he didn’t think the post had any power, he wouldn’t have accepted it.