Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay is seen after attending a meeting with Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone in London, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008. The Montreal representatives traveled to London for the meeting on Thursday to make a case for saving the Canadian Grand Prix. The Canadian GP, which draws an estimated US$80 million (euro60 million) per year in revenues and economic spinoffs to Montreal, was dropped from F1's 2009 calendar this month and replaced by a race in Abu Dhabi.MATT DUNHAM/The Associated Press
For a long time, allegations of corruption have tainted Montreal's good name. Now the city is staging what seems like an episode of Keystone Kops, with Mayor Gérald Tremblay leading a hapless ensemble cast.
Daily revelations are again rocking city hall, but these are not allegations of collusion or kickbacks. These scandals revolve around the twisted attempts by the mayor and his allies to investigate his own officials, from his former right-hand man on city council to the former police chief to the city auditor.
The favoured investigative technique seems to be monitoring e-mails without obtaining court orders while bypassing the city's own police investigators.
At a meeting Tuesday evening, Mr. Tremblay tried to force his former top political ally, Claude Dauphin, out of his role as city hall chairman, despite the mayor's admission that evidence of alleged wrongdoing against Mr. Dauphin may have been obtained improperly by the city's comptroller-general, Pierre Reid.
The special sitting of city council became bogged down in procedural wrangling and dragged late into the evening without reaching a conclusion on Mr. Dauphin's status.
Mr. Reid turned over "certain troubling facts" concerning Mr. Dauphin and a demolition contract to the provincial police, Mr. Tremblay said. He offered no other details. Mr. Dauphin denies any wrongdoing. Mr. Reid himself was demoted this week over his controversial investigative techniques, which Quebec's Municipal Affairs Minister, Laurent Lessard, described on Tuesday as illegal.
"This cannot go on any longer," Mr. Lessard told reporters at the National Assembly in Quebec City. "Elected officials have the right to confidentiality in their electronic communications."
In the latest twist, the Montreal newspaper La Presse reported Tuesday that the mayor's administration hired private detectives to investigate his former police chief, Yvan Delorme, who also resigned under a cloud last year. The paper said private investigators looked into relations between the chief and Luigi Coretti, the head of private security firm BCIA, which provided security to police stations, including headquarters, without a written contract.
Provincial legislation says it is up to the provincial government to launch such an investigation, not the city and a team of private eyes. Mr. Lessard and officials from the provincial police force both said they were left out of the loop.
Mr. Lessard was asked Tuesday if he would take the extraordinary measure of relieving the mayor and city hall of control of Montreal. The minister said he would not take control of the city - yet.
The mess has triggered calls for Mr. Tremblay's resignation and even the suggestion that the city needs to be put under a form of trusteeship by the province. The mayor has long been mocked over Quebec airwaves for his pleas of ignorance on allegations of corruption along with the current spy scandal.
In city council chambers Tuesday, Mr. Tremblay promised these unauthorized investigations would not happen again, but maintained Mr. Reid was getting informal guidance from provincial police. He also denied the BCIA investigation specifically targeted the former police chief.
This all comes after the February revelation that city investigators were monitoring the e-mail account of auditor Jacques Bergeron, whose office is supposed to be independent of city administration. Mr. Bergeron described the spying as "a veritable fishing expedition."
Much of Tuesday's council session was occupied by city councillors demanding to know who else is under surveillance by Mr. Tremblay's team. The mayor denied anyone else is being monitored. From now on, the province and police will take charge of investigations or grant written permission for internal monitoring, he said.
Opposition city councillor Richard Bergeron has taken his own extraordinary measures within his own municipal party, Projet Montréal, dropping the cellphones and e-mail accounts provided by the city to avoid espionage.
"You are demolishing Montreal's municipal institution, piece by piece," Mr. Bergeron told Mr. Tremblay. "You no longer has control over the city."
Mr. Tremblay reminded councillors that he promised to clean up after his 2009 re-election campaign was repeatedly sidetracked by allegations of corruption in his administration.
"I know it disturbs people when we take certain actions," Mr. Tremblay said. "But I'm acting in the best interests of the institutions."
Les Perreaux