The mayor of Sorel-Tracy, Serge Péloquin, has been dismissed. The Superior Court on Wednesday ratified the recommendation of the Commission municipale du Québec (CMQ), which considered that Serge Péloquin had abused his functions by installing a microphone in the office of the city clerk in order to eavesdrop on his conversations.
In his decision, Judge Steve J. Reimnitz indicated that he took into account Mayor Péloquin’s act of total acquiescence. He therefore declares the elected member disqualified from exercising his functions for a period of one year.
Earlier in the morning, the judge had briefly heard the lawyers for both parties and had taken the case under advisement. “This is a relatively important file. I intend to render judgment this morning, but I intend to examine the file in more detail in my office,” he said.
The CMQ’s Municipal Integrity Investigations and Prosecutions Department judged that the actions of Mayor Péloquin “seriously undermined the honor and dignity” of his office and demanded that the Court declare him disqualified from sit as elected.
Remember that in November 2002, Serge Péloquin had hidden in the office of the clerk René Chevalier a device to record his conversations. The equipment had been in the employee’s office for fifteen months before he discovered it and alerted the general manager.
This dismissal means that an election for the mayor of Sorel-Tracy will have to be held in the coming months.
Further details will follow.
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