'You challenge the status quo at your peril,' borough Mayor Sue Montgomery questions ethics violations ruling

MONTREAL -

Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (CDN-NDG) borough Mayor Sue Montgomery did not mince words after a Quebec Municipal Commission judge found her guilty of 11 ethics violations.

"In this system, you challenge the status quo at your peril," the CDN-NDG borough mayor told CTV News. "Those in power will take any measure to shut you down."

At least one municipal rival has called for her resignation after QMC judge Alain Roy's ruling.

Roy wrote that Montgomery did not act in a way that "favoured the maintenance of a harmonious, healthy work climate, free from all forms of harassment," and that she disrespected and insulted civil servants on several occasions and tried to withhold pay from a civil servant who alleged harassment.

He also noted she joked sarcastically at an informal meeting that her borough manager must have "compromising photos" of Montreal comptroller general Alain Bond.

Lionel Perez, who is running against Montgomery in the upcoming municipal election, insists she must resign.

"With the ruling, she no longer has the moral authority to govern," Perez wrote on Twitter. "The people of CDN-NDG deserve better."

Perez also referenced Montgomery's ongoing rift with governing party Projet Montréal and its leader, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante.

The violations in the ruling stem from Bond's original investigation into the borough's workplace culture in 2019, ending with demands from Montreal City Hall that Montgomery dismiss her chief of staff Annalisa Harris.

Montgomery refused to do so, and Plante kicked her out of Projet Montréal. Montgomery then formed her own political party, Courage.

Plante responded to Roy's ruling by asking that Montgomery recognize her mistakes, adding the way she has been acting is not helpful.

"It shows very clearly that as mayor, but mostly as leader of my party, I was right to be worried, concerned and upset with some of Madame Montgomery's behaviour," said Plante. "I did the right thing."

A Quebec Superior Court judge ruled that the city mishandled the investigation into Harris and that it had no right to ask Montgomery to remove her.

"I won my Superior Court Case against the city, the court found that what I did was within my rights and responsibilities as mayor," said Montgomery. "The CMQ, in its allegations, doesn’t even acknowledge this. Many of the allegations from the CMQ were already rejected by the Superior Court. This is what I have faced and what I will continue to fight."

Roy also found Montgomery guilty of failing to disclose conflicts of interest and other accusations.

He dismissed 17 other allegations of ethics violations. Montgomery is expected to attend another hearing on July 6 when Roy will announce possible sanctions.

Montgomery says she is standing up for good governance and has been "stymied at every turn."

"The citizens of Côte-des-Neiges-NDG have been deprived of a strong council for years - one that would stand up to the entrenched system," she said. "For years, Côte-des-Neiges-NDG has not gotten its fair share from the city."