In its first six months, the Charbonneau Commission has exposed a culture of corruption in Montreal, but as voters are asked to go to the polls this fall to elect a new mayor and councillors, how will the commission affect the candidates and the votes?
What's been seen and heard already at the commission could potentially turn voters off, said CAQ MNA Jacques Duchesneau.
“We lost billions of dollars… It was not the contractor or engineeering firms pushing the money up. It was the politicians asking for money,” said Duchesneau, who is also the former Montreal police chief.
As the man who followed the money first, even Duchesneau said he didn't expect the way it would flow.
Unconvinced politicians would take action, he leaked his report on collusion in construction and contracting, ultimately forced the creation of the Charbonneau Commission.
“The commission is only there to be an eye-opener. I think they have achieved that goal thus far,” he said.
Still, retired justice John Gomery, former chairman of the commission that bore his name, said despite his own inquiry's findings into the Liberal sponsorship scandal, he knows not all politicians and civil servants are crooked. That, however, often becomes the perception in voters’ eyes.
“That's a danger,” he said. “I don't believe that. I believe that there are honest candidates for election and the voting public should carefully scrutinize who it is they're going to elect.”
City columnist for The Gazette Henry Aubin thinks integrity and independence will be top priorities when choosing whom to vote for this fall.
“I think voters will flock to the idea of an idealistic reformer,” said Aubin. “I think we're beyond the question of image. I don't think image is what voters want right now; I think they want substance.”
Mavericks aren't enough, however, said Aubin.
Another way to drive out corruption is getting rid of the party system and reforming rules to allow only candidates with proven grassroots support to access public campaign money.
“It means you don't have to go to contractors for money -- you don't have to go to suspect sources for money,” he said.
Derek Robertson, a one-time political organizer, agrees. Big municipal parties haven't always offered voters the best projects or candidates, he said.
“I was helping Vision Montreal for the western part of Montreal,” he said. “Ultimately I think it was a lot of people who weren't qualified to be there, who were just put there because they were doing the right thing for the right folks.”
It was a practice that he said turned citizens like himself off from running.
“I think politics is noble when doing the right and things for citizens and I didn't see that… We need to shift for this system-centric governance to a citizen-centric governance and if that means independent candidates not in municipal parties across the board, then so be it,” he said.
Fifteen years after he first ran and lost for mayor of Montreal on an anti-corruption platform, Duchesneau said it was a tough sell back then.
“It was hard to convince people,” he said.
People are now listening, but Duchesneau said he hope voters will keep their ears and eyes open from this point forward.
“People know when something is crooked. They just need to listen… Being part of a democracy is not putting an 'x' sign every four years. It's getting involved in your society,” he said. “It's time. Now is the time.”
