Plante to seek dismissal of public consultation office president amid spending scandal
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante says she's taking steps to clean up the city's public consultation office, starting with getting rid of its president, Isabelle Beaulieu.
"We're going to clean house," Plante said Friday following a special finance commission meeting about the recent spending scandal.
The mayor addressed the controversy alongside the former head of the office, Dominique Ollivier, who stepped down on Monday as president of the city's executive committee over a recent Journal de Montreal investigation into extravagant spending while she was the president of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM).
"I want to make it clear from the outset: the 77 outings to Alexandre's in one year, the $900 headphones, the $5,500 field hockey tickets did not take place under my presidency and are the work of the administration. I've always had too much respect for public funds to authorize this kind of spending," Ollivier said.
The newspaper reported that while she was head of the OCPM, Ollivier expensed several international trips, pricey meals, including a $347 oyster dinner in Paris and luxury office furniture. Ollivier admitted she did expense $20,000 worth of meals, but that was over a seven-year period.
"I also have on my corporate credit card, a bill for St-Hubert barbecue, that was delivered, that is $78. I’m not saying that was legitimate, what I'm saying is that if you look at the entire corpus it's different occasions of different things," she said.
Ollivier is angry she’s being accused of wasting public funds, and angry her management is being questioned.
But her successor did just that — Beaulieu said when she took over for Ollivier in early 2022, she found an organization that she said was poorly managed with little oversight, including some employees being paid 6 per cent vacation pay while getting paid vacation, and others logging full-time hours when many didn’t actually work full-time.
"It means that Montrealers are being fleeced out of their hard-earned money by people who are not just negligent but could even be unscrupulous," said Ensemble Montreal's Alan DeSousa Friday.
The mayor said it can't go on like this and will take steps next week to have Beaulieu fired and the office placed under trusteeship.
"There will be no more funding, no more money going to OCPM without us — the executive committee — looking into it," Plante said.
The opposition at City Hall says that doesn't go far enough and wants Ollivier kicked out of Projet Montreal's caucus.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Deadly six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 sparked by road rage incident
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
'Of course, yes': Poland latest European country with interest in Canadian LNG
The President of Poland says his country would 'of course' be interested in purchasing Canadian liquefied natural gas if it were available, while the Canadian federal government has said it is 'not interested' in subsidizing future projects.
Dozens in Italy give a fascist salute on the anniversary of Mussolini's execution
Dozens of people raised their arms in the fascist salute and shouted a fascist chant during ceremonies Sunday to honor Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on the 79th anniversary of his execution.
Here's where Canadians are living abroad: report
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
Chants of 'shame on you' greet guests arriving for the annual White House correspondents' dinner
An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday.
Britney Spears settles long-running legal dispute with estranged father, finally bringing ultimate end to conservatorship
Britney Spears has reached a settlement with her estranged father more than two years after the court-ordered termination of a conservatorship that had given him control of her life, their attorneys said.
Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Health minister 'deeply appreciative' of doctors but capital gains changes here to stay
Health Minister Mark Holland says while he is 'deeply appreciative' of the work doctors in Canada do, the federal government has no plans to scrap the proposed capital gains tax changes outlined in the latest budget, despite opposition from the Canadian Medical Association.
A top Qatari official urges Israel and Hamas to do more to reach a ceasefire deal
A senior Qatari official has urged both Israel and Hamas to show "more commitment and more seriousness" in ceasefire negotiations in interviews with Israeli media, as pressure builds on both sides to move toward a deal that would set Israeli hostages free and bring potential respite in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.