Criticized from all sides for her financial management at the time when she was president of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM), Dominique Ollivier, former president of the City’s executive committee, defended her integrity on Friday in front of elected officials municipal.
According to her, the abuses in the use of public funds occurred after her reign, which ended in the fall of 2021, contrary to what the current president, Isabelle Beaulieu, declared in the morning.
I’ve read all kinds of things in the newspapers, but I’ll tell you this clearly: 77 outings with Alexandre in one year, $900 headphones, $500 hockey tickets, that never happened. happened under my presidency and it was the work of the administration that succeeded me. I have always had too much respect for public funds to authorize this kind of spending.
Dominique Ollivier
In 2014, upon his arrival as president of the organization, the council had provided that the presidency was entitled to $4,000 in representation expenses, recalled Mr.me Ollivier, who appeared before the elected officials of the Commission on Finance and Administration.
She justified the numerous trips of leaders and international exchanges by the practices that were current before her arrival, and by the desire of successive municipal administrations to forge links to improve public consultations, in addition to serving as showcases for Montreal.
“I find it difficult to be accused of having misused public funds,” she lamented, adding that she had led several meetings with organizations abroad during her personal vacation, charging only minimal fees to the OCPM.
“I understand citizens being shocked because the facts are completely decontextualized. »
However, she recognized that the financial management of the OCPM needed to be tightened. “It is clear that we must review the control mechanisms to ensure that they function correctly and make it possible to avoid excesses and abuses, and to ensure public confidence in our institutions,” underlined Mr.me Oliver.
In the morning, Isabelle Beaulieu declared that she had inherited, upon her arrival in February 2022, a poorly managed organization, without a clear framework, without a code of ethics, where employees engaged in “time theft”.
Dominique Ollivier, however, affirmed that she was never aware of time theft while she was at the head of the OCPM.
By questioning the former number two of the Plante administration, opposition councilor Alan de Sousa, mayor of the Saint-Laurent borough, underlined that Mmy Ollivier and Beaulieu seemed to be “throwing” each other under the bus, both blaming the other.
Mme Ollivier left the organization in 2021 to enter municipal politics with Mayor Valérie Plante’s team, and became president of the executive committee following her election. She resigned from this position on Monday, following revelations about her expenses as president of the OCPM by the Quebecor media two weeks ago. She remains a municipal councilor for the borough of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie.
Dominique Ollivier and Isabelle Beaulieu invoiced and approved tens of thousands of dollars in meal and travel expenses for several years, expenses that were difficult to justify, which shocked the population and elected officials.
Mme Ollivier notably spent nearly $18,000 at restaurants in four years, including a $347 oyster meal in Paris with a collaborator and ex-business partner. A mission to Africa also cost taxpayers $23,000.