Denis Coderre’s baggage

Denis Coderre has been very transparent since the start of the campaign, not hesitating to talk about his personal problems and his crossing of the desert. However, it seems that this concern for transparency stops at the door of his office.

However, a few days before the vote, questions concerning his old business ties come back to haunt him.

Among the contracts that Mr. Coderre did not wish to reveal before the election, our colleagues Hugo Joncas and Philippe Teisceira-Lessard reveal this Wednesday a mandate, completed last March, with Cogir, a real estate management company which has interests in the residential, commercial and industrial sector. This is not a detail in a campaign where one of the major issues is the housing crisis. And that we promise the construction of tens of thousands of housing units.

This contract is in addition to two other mandates of Mr. Coderre, abandoned since his entry into the race for mayor, for the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec – project manager of the REM -, as well as for the Stingray company. , owned by Eric Boyko, one of the promoters of the return of Major League Baseball to Montreal. Are there others?

If so, they must be disclosed now.

This question of professional contracts alone embodies the strengths and weaknesses of Denis Coderre’s candidacy.

Strengths: Mr. Coderre – who had every right to earn a living when he was not a candidate – is a consultant who maintains privileged links with the business community. It has its entrances in Quebec, Ottawa and elsewhere in the world, which can be an asset for someone who aspires to lead a big city. He knows how to negotiate and move issues forward, he is sensitive to the major issues facing the city.

Weaknesses: we do not know all the implications of this proximity to the business community. And Mr. Coderre’s stubbornness in keeping his contracts secret casts doubt on possible conflicts of interest if he ever became mayor.

In an editorial interview on Tuesday, Mr. Coderre replied that if he was elected, he would submit all his contracts to the ethics counselor of the City of Montreal.

But why wait for the judgment of the ethics counselor to make the necessary decisions? And why did you wait for the information to be unearthed by journalists to face the music?

Mr. Coderre also invokes professional secrecy, which he compares to that of doctors and lawyers with their patients and clients. We understand that consultants sign confidentiality clauses, but there is no professional secrecy in this area. Mr. Coderre should have, even before announcing his candidacy, notify all his clients that he would have to reveal the details of his professional commitments by entering politics.

This is also transparency.

Denis Coderre has the qualities to run a city. He is thoroughly familiar with the issues that are close to his heart – public safety, homelessness, Montreal’s status as a metropolis… He has good ideas for the east end of Montreal. Deep convictions to counter the increase in violence in certain neighborhoods. And when he talks about his love for Montreal, we never doubt his sincerity for a single moment.

One might think that his obstinacy in not revealing the nature of his contracts is proof that his supposed “change” is just window dressing, a well orchestrated marketing plan. That the stubborn and pugnacious former Denis Coderre is still well in the saddle.

The reality is more nuanced.

Yes, the man has changed. He is more composed, more attentive. More smiling too.

But he shows the same stubbornness as in the last municipal election, when he categorically refused to reveal the number of tickets given for the Formula E event. He had nevertheless declared the “having escaped” at the time. . Why replay in this film today?

The baggage that Denis Coderre has been carrying with him since the start of this campaign therefore has two compartments: that of experience, acquired after many years in politics. And that of his business links that he must absolutely clarify before the day of the vote. Montrealers who will vote next weekend have the right to do so with full knowledge of the facts.

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