A few days before the municipal elections, a former Project Montreal elected official in Lachine attacks Valérie Plante’s party in court, alleging harassment and difficult labor relations.
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Borough councilor Julie-Pascale Provost filed a defamation motion with the Court of Quebec last Thursday against the outgoing mayor of Lachine, Maja Vodanovic, and her former team.
In his pursuit, Mme Provost refers to “crises during work sessions” and to “lack of respect” on the part of Maja Vodanovic towards him and towards other advisers.
“Mayor Vodanovic acted as a rival against the other councilors, and the latter did not wish to be associated with Vodanovic,” indicates the lawsuit, which reports several events during which Julie-Pascale Provost would have been defamed.
“Working relations were always difficult with Vodanovic,” said the one who was to run for mayor of Lachine for Denis Coderre’s team, but who ultimately withdrew her candidacy.
Except Mme Provost, all of the outgoing Lachine elected officials are part of Projet Montréal and they all stand for re-election at the end of the week.
Harassment complaint
Mme Provost claims to have filed “a harassment complaint” against his former colleague Maja Vodanovic to the Projet Montreal party and to the City, in September 2020.
This would have occurred just a few days before Julie-Pascale Provost was expelled from Valérie Plante’s training, mainly around disagreements over the issue of the closure of the Lachine marina.
The outgoing Canal district councilor is demanding $ 80,000 from the outgoing mayoress of Lachine, as well as from Projet Montréal, whom she accuses of having defended Maja Vodanovic “for reasons of public image”.
“Project MTL was aware of the multiple problems of Vodanovic [et a] was not very active in trying to resolve the situation, ”also alleges Julie-Pascale Provost.
Stormy start of mandate
These allegations are in line with testimonies gathered by our Bureau of Investigation over the past few months on tensions among elected officials in Lachine.
According to several people, relations were often strained between Julie-Pascale Provost and Maja Vodanovic.
According to elected officials from Projet Montréal and political staff with whom we spoke, the mandate of the Lachine team experienced “difficult times” from the start, in 2017.
“It’s true, there were tensions,” adviser Younes Boukala told us.
The team even resorted to mediation meetings to try to resolve the situation.
WHO IS JULIE-PASCALE PROVOST?
- Elected as borough councilor for the Canal district, in Lachine, in 2017, under the banner of Projet Montréal.
- In the fall of 2020, the advisor was excluded from Valérie Plante’s party after numerous disagreements over the closure of the local marina.
- In spring 2021, Mme Provost announces her intention to be a candidate for mayor of Lachine as an independent.
- Recruited by Denis Coderre’s team, she finally abandoned the race in September, after Ensemble Montréal demanded that all of its candidates be vaccinated against COVID-19.