Coming out of her silence for the first time on Wednesday, the president of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) acknowledges errors, but judges that she did not “waste public funds”.
“I don’t think I wasted public funds. I could have made mistakes, I am not perfect,” said Isabelle Beaulieu, in an interview with our Bureau of Investigation.
The president of the OCPM is in the hot seat due to our revelations about numerous questionable expenditures by her organization for restaurants, travel and furniture, both under her reign and that of her predecessor, Dominique Ollivier, today right arm of Valérie Plante.
Until yesterday, she had refused all our interview requests and ignored all our calls.
She gave us 15 minutes on the phone during which she took part of the blame while placing the blame on the “practices passed down” by the former management of the OCPM, Ms. Ollivier.
“I inherit the way of doing things from my predecessors,” said Ms. Beaulieu, assuring that she would review the ways of doing things, particularly for travel and restaurant expenses.
No policy
Although the previous president, Dominique Ollivier, always assured that she had respected “the rules of the Office,” Ms. Beaulieu admitted in an interview that there was no policy governing these expenses.
“Currently there is no policy at the OCPM. I asked my predecessor [Dominique Ollivier] who told me it was 1% of the annual budget for representation and travel expenses, but there is no written document,” she agreed.
Oyster dinners for $350, numerous restaurant meetings, long trips with family members, are among the questionable expenses that the OCPM has made since 2016.
“Yes, I had work meetings at the restaurant at lunchtime, it was the practice to do so for 20 years,” admitted Ms. Beaulieu. It will not happen again.”
When she was commissioner, from 2015, she confirms having been invited to the restaurant by President Dominique Ollivier, but did not remember the establishments. “You should ask Madame Ollivier,” she said.
She maintained that there was no alcohol in these meetings, but could not explain how last April she and just one other guest were able to spend $211.50 at Café Ferreira for lunch.
Ms Beaulieu also pledged to tighten travel rules, which allowed Guy Grenier to take part in National Day in a bar in London and record a podcast in Paris, at taxpayers’ expense.
“We are going to look at this again and we are going to create a clearer policy on how to regulate travel, that’s for sure,” she assured.
No conflict of interest
Isabelle Beaulieu judges that having appointed Guy Grenier to the position of general secretary, a man from whom she had acquired a company in 2018, did not place her in a conflict of interest.
“The Auditor General will come and check this and she will be able to confirm that there is no conflict of interest,” she said.
The president agreed that there had been no call for applications for this position, although it was made vacant by the retirement of Luc Doray, also targeted by our revelations.
“I met a few individuals during working meals. Mr. Grenier was the best candidate,” she swears.
However, a few years earlier, Guy Grenier had made the headlines in a political scandal in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
He was fired from his position as chief of staff to Mayor Alain Laplante after only a few months, for putting the interests of his childhood friend, the mayor, before those of the City.
“He is a man of integrity. His past is his past. For the Office, it was the best application,” assures Ms. Beaulieu.