Following revelations concerning eccentric spending by OCPM leaders, Dominique Ollivier resigned, Isabelle Beaulieu was fired, and the organization was placed under supervision. It was inevitable and essential. Any other measure would have aroused the ire of the population and anathema to the Plante administration.
But this outcome should in no way mean the end of the saga.
Waste
On the contrary, the OCPM crisis perhaps hides others. Because if shameless spending is an institutionalized practice at the OCPM, could it be that other taxpayer-funded organizations are also guilty of systemic waste?
This question is not unfounded, since Mme Ollivier herself declared: “we are indebted to no one, except to the council of elected officials, three times a year”. And although she presented the OCPM budget seven times before the Finance Commission, Ms.me Ollivier adds: “[i]There has never been a question asked about the OCPM budget. Zero. Never […] Our expense accounts went to the finance department and came back in the form of reimbursement, without ever raising a flag.”
If the OCPM was able to get away with it so easily for so long, it is because the City of Montreal is not doing its job. Through her indolence, she even facilitated the waste of public funds. And if the finance department turned a blind eye in the case of the OCPM, how many other organizations have been able to benefit from the same laxity?
Audit
If Mme Plante is worthy of her duties, she will demand an external audit of all organizations funded by the City as well as her own administration.
Is the case of the OCPM a banal anecdote? Or is it just the tip of the iceberg of systemic abuse in the City of Montreal? The taxpayers to whom the mayor has just announced tax increases deserve to know where their money is going!