The founder of Entreprises KL Mainville, a major snow removal company, has been placed on Montreal’s “black list”. No longer able to participate in calls for tenders for five years, Serge Mainville is now attacking the city’s decision in court, arguing that it does not have the skills to ban him from contracts.
The executive committee of the City of Montreal declared Serge Mainville ineligible for contracts with the metropolis last Wednesday. The City accuses the contractor of having allowed Louis-Victor Michon to work in the execution of municipal contracts when he was already on the “black list” of Montreal for facts relating to collusion.
This decision echoes an investigation by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), published in June. The report revealed that Entreprises KL Mainville (EKLM) had for years subcontracted snow removal contracts to Excavation Bromont, a company owned by Daniel Girard on paper, but which was in fact controlled by Louis-Victor Michon thanks to a nominee system.
Montreal’s Inspector General, Brigitte Bishop, maintained that Serge Mainville knew of Louis-Victor Michon’s inadmissibility status and the fact that he controlled Excavation Bromont.
This week, the executive committee also banned municipal contracts Louis-Victor Michon for a period of five years, Excavation Bromont for a period of four years and Daniel Girard for a period of three years.
Moreover, the City did not declare EKLM – today Valosphere Environnement – inadmissible as recommended by the general inspector of Montreal. Rather, it imposes “specific control measures (…) for a period of 5 years” to ensure that it complies with the regulations.
The day after the decision, Thursday, Serge Mainville began legal proceedings to challenge the decision. He maintains that the register of inadmissible persons kept by the City of Montreal does not fall under municipal jurisdiction. Oral arguments will take place on March 21 and 22.
At Duty, Serge Mainville denied having been aware of Excavation Bromont’s nominee scheme: “I hired Excavation Bromont, who is Daniel Girard. I signed the contract with Daniel Girard. The AMF certification is Daniel Girard. Insurance is Daniel Girard. That’s all Daniel Girard. What do you want me to do? I’m still not good at investigating. »
In the months following the BIG’s decision, Serge Mainville of EKLM left the company he had created in 2004. “I will never go into that field again. This is an area that stinks in my face. It’s a field of big players, with foreign companies,” he says, believing that the BIG would never dare to sue the multinationals in the sector “because they have floors of lawyers”.
Why take steps if he withdraws from the sector? He claims to want to “restore his reputation” and remove “this task from his CV” which can affect the financing of his other businesses in real estate and agriculture.
It is the Laval lawyer Jean-François Goulet – who represented Mr. Mainville in the past – who has since taken the reins of the company. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
The company, which works in several sectors, including contaminated soil, changed its name this fall, becoming Valosphere Environnement: “Les Entreprises KL Mainville is no longer just a simple transportation company. The company has diversified its service offering and is currently positioning itself as an important leader in environmental matters,” she announced on her Facebook page at the time.
Mr. Goulet maintained that he wanted to change the culture of the company during an interview with The duty. ” [Il va y] having audited financials and wanting to change the culture of the company a bit if I may say so without sounding snooty. (…) I am aware of the limits and the regulations,” he says.