Without fanfare, the political party of Mayor Valérie Plante held a rare congress at the end of last week.
The media were not invited to the event or to Ms.’s final speech.me Plant. The speech should have been announced to journalists, but “an error meant that the notice was not sent as planned,” said the party’s communications manager, Arianne Beaupré, by email.
The entire weekend “was open to observers and the media,” assured M.me Bowsprit. The home page of the Projet Montréal website, however, contains no mention of this event. Further on the site, the congress is actually announced, with the mention: “only members in good standing of Projet Montréal can participate in this event”.
The mayor’s public calendar, an online tool, indicated that she would be present at the conventions.
The gathering last weekend mainly focused on a review of the statutes of the political party. “Historically, we did not do media advisories for conferences that deal with the statutes and regulations since it is a more technical and niche exercise,” indicated Arianne Beaupré.
The last Projet Montréal congress, in 2021, caused headaches for the M teamme Plante: the activists had adopted a resolution questioning the method of financing the police, as well as the need for all Montreal police officers to be equipped with a firearm. The mayor had to immediately qualify, assuring that these were long-term wishes.
These debates took place behind closed doors, at the suggestion of Alia Hassan-Cournol, who has since become a member of the executive committee of the City of Montreal.
Projet Montréal recently found itself in hot water when its former boss was fined by Élections Québec. Marie Depelteau-Paquette allegedly failed to declare the overtime of Projet Montréal employees in the organization’s electoral expenses report, thus committing a “fraudulent electoral maneuver,” according to the DGEQ.