MONTREAL - Gerald Tremblay has been running the city of Montreal for a decade.

Ten years ago Friday he was elected mayor as an anti-merger candidate with a party named the Montreal Island Citizens Union.

The party is now known as Union Montreal, and several of the former independent cities are still boroughs, and as Tremblay retains command halfway through his third term of office he is respected, if not always admired, by those who know his personally and politically.

Jean Dore, the 39th mayor of Montreal, says Tremblay is an intelligent, likeable person in charge of a difficult-to-run city.

"I like him a lot," said Dore. "But there's a limit to what you can do with all these qualities in the kind of structure that you've inherited, and partly that you've created." 

Westmount Mayor Peter Trent says he and Tremblay clashed in the past, but have learned to work together.

"I was always at crossed swords with Gerald Tremblay and we didn't like each other at all," said Trent. "But we have a much better relationship now. Mr. Tremblay has decided to work with us, treat us as partners."

Gazette reporter Linda Gyulai says the mayor has had a difficult relationship with the media.

"He would make personal attacks on journalists who would come out with stories about various wonky tenders or contracts," said Gyulai.

In 2009, Tremblay said he was the victim of a smear campaign and refused to answer one reporter's questions.

Now he has changed his tone.

"Strategically, I think he's trying to side more with public perception and the media, and pointing the finger more at the contractors and the system," said Gyulai.

While Tremblay and his administration have frequently come under fire because of mishandled contracts and allegations of corruption, Tremblay's reputation is intact.

"He is really a person who is incorruptible. Nobody can suggest that Mr. Tremblay was involved in any corruption of any kind," said Trent. "But under his watch a lot of rather bad things happened."

Former politician Robert Libman agrees.

"It's easy to string together little snippets of information to try to create the sniff or the scent or the odour of a scandal, but the fact that he's still there is clearly evidence of the fact that none of these had any legs," said Libman.


Tremblay's legacy

With the scandals concerning water meter contracts, Bixis, and a feud with the Auditor General, the work Tremblay has led to revitalize the city often gets underrated.

"You must acknowledge that his project for the entertainment neighbourhood, the Quartier des Spectacles, is a success," said Dore.

However even that project was faced with cost overruns and inadequate work, with the sidewalk and street needing to be redone multiple times because the original mortar was degraded.

Nobody is suggesting Mayor Tremblay is at fault, but it shows how a mayor is often blamed, instead of credited, for everything that takes place in a city.

"Some people like their politicians with more flair, or with more drama," said Trent.

"Gerald Tremblay isn't really a populist," said Gyulai. "He's a competent professional. I think that's the image he's always wanted to present."

The mayor turned 69 in September, and he still wakes up at 4:30 every morning to read the newspapers before facing another day at the office.

The next municipal election is two years away, and so far, Tremblay has not said whether he'll take the risk of running again.