Plante to reimburse $540 for Vienna wine bill covered by Montreal taxpayers
Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante is reimbursing more than $500 in wine bought at taxpayers' expense.
The wine was purchased during a dinner for 12 in Austria last spring, when Plante led a delegation on a mission to Vienna in April to learn how that city handles social housing.
Dinner for 12 people totalled $1,900, including $540 for eight bottles of wine. The bill didn't appear on any expense forms.
The expenses were discovered by French media outlet the Journal de Montreal through an Access to Information request.
City officials said they saw the dinner as a meet and greet "event" and, therefore, part of the mission and not a meal. Plante now admits that was a mistake, and the bill has been reimbursed.
While she wouldn't give an interview to CTV News, her team said in a statement: "This was an exceptional error made in good faith, which has now been corrected."
City hall opposition leader Aref Salem said it shows the mayor is too loose with tax dollars.
"She was trying to hide it for sure," he said. "The ethical code of the elected officials at the city - and we had courses about that - it's not allowed to reimburse alcohol, and it's clear at the city. Everyone knows about it."
On Monday, the president of the city's executive committee at city hall resigned following allegations she abused her expense account while at the head of the public consultation office. Now, the mayor is coming under scrutiny.
"The expense is not large, but it's the context," said Michel Seguin, an ethics and governance professor at UQAM.
Given that the city is saying finances are tight and taxes are expected to go up, spending taxpayer money on wine shows a lack of sensitivity, he said.
The mayor's team said it has made efforts to tighten spending on international missions.
The Quebec municipal commission said it is investigating the alcohol purchases.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus survives vote calling for his ouster
Greg Fergus survived a vote to oust him as House of Commons Speaker on Tuesday, but with close to half of MPs expressing a loss of confidence in him, he faces a precarious path forward in maintaining order in Parliament.
'It was hell': Israeli mother held hostage with her children describes 51 days in captivity
Hagar Brodutch, her three children and four-year-old neighbour were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from their home in Kfar Aza, Israel on Oct. 7 and held for 51 days. They were released in November, but Brodutch says her thoughts are never far from those still being held in Gaza.
'Unruly passenger' forces WestJet flight to make emergency landing in B.C.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
P.E.I. kiteboarder 'lucky to be alive' after shark attack in Turks and Caicos
A professional kiteboarder from P.E.I. says he has been seriously injured in a shark attack that occurred while he was snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos Islands last week.
Teen dies after being hit by train in N.W. Calgary
A teenager has died after being hit by a train in northwest Calgary on Tuesday afternoon.
Black bear kebabs make family sick with parasitic worms
It was supposed to be a celebration, but one family’s unique meal of black bear meat sent several members to the hospital instead.
'It's his vacation too': Jimmy the baby goat joins 2-week road trip across Canada
After Jimmy the baby goat was shunned by his mother, a New Brunswick man took the kid on a two-week road trip across Canada.
The double-level airplane seat is back. This time, there’s a first-class version
It’s the airplane seat design that launched a thousand memes and kickstarted a media storm. And now the double-level seat is back – only this time, with a twist.
New COVID-19 subvariants become the dominant strains in Canada
More than four years after COVID-19 effectively shut down the world, two new variants of COVID-19 have become the dominant strains of the novel coronavirus in Canada.