The executive director of the Jean Drapeau Park Society has resigned following a devastating report into financial irregularities.
Daniel Blier's resignation is effective immediately.
Last week Montreal's Inspector General delivered a report to City Council in which he pointed out that eight contracts awarded by the organization which oversees Jean Drapeau Park had "major irregularities" -- and four had been illegally awarded.
Denis Gallant recommended the four contracts for work which had yet to be finished should be thrown out and resubmitted for tender.
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said he no longer had any trust in Daniel Blier, the head of the Society, and City Council summoned Blier to appear before them to explain what had happened.
Gallant's report explained how the Park Society had given the non-profit Quartier International de Montreal $1,000,000 to oversee reconstruction projects taking place in the park.
The report went on to say that four contracts worth $7.75 million were then awarded without a proper public tendering process, and eight contracts were subject to favouritism.
The city has yet to determine if the creation of a riverside walking path, development of an amphitheatre, and repairs to Place Des Nations can be completed before Montreal's 375th anniversary in 2017.
