The mayor of Sorel-Tracy, Serge Péloquin, could be fixed on his fate Wednesday when he will appear before the Superior Court following the request for dismissal submitted to the court by the Commission municipale du Québec (CMQ).
Last month, at the end of its investigation, the CMQ had concluded that Mayor Péloquin had abused his functions when he had installed a microphone in the office of the city clerk in order to eavesdrop on his conversations. She had applied to the Superior Court to have Serge Péloquin declared disqualified from sitting as an elected official for one year.
The judge who will hear the case on Wednesday could render a decision on the bench or take the case under advisement. If he decides to side with the request of the CMQ and confirm the dismissal of Mayor Péloquin, elections for the mayor of Sorel-Tracy will have to be held in the coming months.
Storm
The controversy surrounding Mayor Péloquin’s spying on the clerk has been rocking Sorel-Tracy City Hall for weeks. Recall that in November 2020, the mayor had hidden an electronic device for capturing sound and image in the office of the city clerk, René Chevalier. The device was linked to an application installed on the mayor’s cell phone and he could activate the recording whenever he wanted. René Chevalier discovered the device fifteen months later and alerted the city’s general manager.
Serge Péloquin has always maintained that section 52 of the Cities and Towns Act allows him to carry out such surveillance. He let it be understood that he had to collect evidence to support the reproaches he had against the clerk, reproaches the content of which has never been made public.
On the contrary, the CMQ alleges that the Cities and Towns Act did not allow the mayor to act in this way and that the latter had abused his functions and assumed those of his director general.
Complete acquiescence
On May 19, Mayor Péloquin however transmitted to the Court an “act of total acquiescence”, saying that he took note of the facts with which he was charged. In his statement, Serge Péloquin acknowledged that the Cities and Towns Act did not grant him such supervisory power and that he had acted “recklessly, although in good faith, to the best of his knowledge and in the sole purpose of protecting the interests of the municipality.
Serge Péloquin said he accepted the consequences of his actions and acknowledged that “the actions of which he is accused seriously undermine the honor and dignity of his duties as mayor”.
At the end of a meeting of the municipal council on May 30, Serge Péloquin said he was relying on the Court. “I am not the one who will decide for the judge. The Municipal Commission is not the one that will decide for the judge. With all due respect, the Municipal Commission said: we could have the mayor declared disqualified for a year. Me, I said: if that’s it, I’ll acquiesce, let’s get it over with and I’ll move on, “he told reporters.
Serge Péloquin is the first municipal elected official to be the subject of a request for disqualification under the new article 305.1 of the Act respecting elections and referendums in municipalities adopted in November 2021 by the National Assembly. It should be noted that this article can apply when the conduct of an elected representative “seriously undermines the honor and dignity of the office”.