OCPM: expensive missions abroad that look like tourist trips

The Montreal Public Consultation Office, financed 100% by public funds, has escaped almost all control for years. This allowed the establishment of a culture of spending at restaurants, traveling, cronyism and even poisoned a toxic work climate, problems against which the City of Montreal says it is powerless.

The leaders of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) have for years been multiplying “missions” abroad with sometimes vague results, and which at times took on the appearance of tourist trips between friends, family members or former business partners.

Australia, Netherlands, France, Spain, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Brazil, Mexico, London, Morocco, Switzerland, Argentina, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates… OCPM leaders travel the world.

These official missions can cost Montreal taxpayers $50,000 per year. This is the case for the year 2016, where there were at least 10 trips by plane.

Ironically, that year, the OCPM consulted the Montreal population on ways to reduce the city’s dependence on fossil fuels.

A $23,000 trip…

In the spring of 2016, the president of the OCPM Dominique Ollivier, now Mayor Valérie Plante’s right-hand man, carried out a 23-day mission abroad. She was accompanied by her ex-business partner, Guy Grenier.

The duo took part in a conference in Amsterdam then in meetings in Paris and Lyon. They shared a few expensive meals there, including a $347 oyster dinner for Mr. Grenier’s birthday.

The journey concluded with a three-day congress of the International Observatory of Participatory Democracy (OIDP) in Mozambique.

Secretary General Luc Doray joined them there after a stopover in London to visit friends, at taxpayers’ expense.

Upon his return from this mission, which cost more than $23,496 in public funds, Mr. Doray wrote that the OCPM had not learned any major lessons from it, which should be used to prepare an IOPD congress in Montreal in 2017.

“The OIDP is a somewhat evanescent creature. […] There are no decision-making bodies, not formally at least. Who makes the final decisions or makes the arbitrations: unclear,” he wrote in a report of just two pages, which we obtained through access to information.

As for M’s stay of more than two weeks in Europe^me Ollivier and Mr. Grenier who preceded this congress, there is no report, only a schedule.

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Really necessary?

Now retired, Mr. Doray considers it legitimate to question the number of people who travel, but recalls in an interview that it is the president who makes these decisions.

Dominique Ollivier assures that the missions abroad were “absolutely necessary”.

“We are invited around the world to share our expertise,” she explains. It allows us both to promote what we do, but it also allows us to enrich ourselves with what others do.”

According to UQAM ethics professor Michel Séguin, OCPM leaders should question the necessity of these trips.

“It’s not their money that they manage. They manage public funds. They have to ask themselves the question: can I obtain the same result with a solution or with a strategy that will cost me much less?

Same today

The new leaders of the OCPM continue to travel the world.

Last June, Guy Grenier, now general secretary of the organization, left for eleven days in London, Paris and Rouen. A journey which cost $7,327 and which he carried out largely with his partner.

In addition to a three-day congress in Rouen, Mr. Grenier writes in his mission report that he had five professional activities, including the celebration of National Day in London and the recording of a podcast with a friend in Paris.

The employees are very little informed of the purpose of the trips of their bosses Isabelle Beaulieu and Guy Grenier.

“Under previous presidencies, we were aware, we knew what the program was, who we were going to meet, what topic was going to be discussed, and what we could get out of it as a team and in practical terms of public participation. This is no longer the case,” said a source who requested anonymity.

According to UQAM professor specializing in municipal management, Danielle Pilette, if travel could have been relevant 20 years ago for the OCPM, it is much less so today.

“Public consultation mechanisms are no longer new. There are university departments, observatories [qui étudient cela]. So, we should probably significantly reduce foreign travel,” she judges.

THE sloppy reporting

There are no reports on numerous OCPM missions abroad, even though they were described as essential by their leaders, our Bureau of Investigation noted. And when there are some, they are not always written with rigor and seriousness.

Less than a month after their return from Mozambique, Dominique Ollivier, Guy Grenier and Luc Doray left again for a ten-day stay in Barcelona, ​​to meet the leaders of the IOPD, a mission worth more than $8,000 .

If a summary of the expenses of this trip was produced, no report of the meetings which took place there exists, confirms Mr. Grenier in response to a request for access to information.

Worse still, three times in 2016, Mr. Doray claims to have taken advantage of his vacation to make a few business meetings in Brazil. But the OCPM tells us that there is not always a report to corroborate its statements and thus justify its expenses at the expense of Montrealers.

Pictures

For certain missions, the reports obtained through a request for access to information are only diaries, or contain more photos than information on the activities in which the Office participated.

According to the professor at UQAM specializing in municipal management, Danielle Pilette, to whom we submitted several reports, they lack seriousness.

“There are no objectives of the meeting, duration, expected outcomes or required follow-up. There is nothing that could give value and rigor to the report,” she points out about that of a mission to Europe last June.

During this trip, Mr. Grenier participated in a workshop in Rouen during the European Participation Meetings. He does not write down the dates he is there and simply copies and pastes the description of the panel listed in the event program.

Several reports also contain errors or omissions of dates, as well as numerous typing errors.

“I especially wonder whether anyone reads these reports, which support the reimbursement requests for travel,” said Professor Pilette.

The OCPM refused to comment on these trips.

Activities with family or friends during business trips

The presence of family members or activities with friends during numerous long trips casts doubt on the proper use of public funds by the OCPM, according to experts.

Our Investigation Office was able to confirm the presence of the wife of the current secretary general, Guy Grenier, during at least two OCPM missions, namely in 2019 and 2023. Her son was present in 2016.

As for Dominique Ollivier, her mother shared accommodation with her during an official mission.

Former Secretary General Luc Doray, for his part, made a three-day stopover in London, which cost taxpayers $805, to see friends.

According to Michel Séguin, ethics expert, the fact that the OCPM refuses to provide hotel, plane ticket and meal invoices casts doubt on the legitimacy of the trips.

“If I go on a trip, I extend it and my wife accompanies me, I have to make sure I am transparent. The demonstration of integrity rests on the shoulders of the one making the journey,” he said.

According to municipal management specialist Danielle Pilette, the length of the trips does not help dispel doubts.

“If we limit the durations, we will limit a lot of problems. It will become much less attractive for spouses,” she believes.

No invoice

Mr. Grenier refused our interview requests, but assures that his wife paid for “her plane tickets, her meals, and everything related.” Our requests to see supporting documents were refused.

For her part, Dominique Ollivier assures that her mother was only present on one mission and that she only saw her “twice during this trip”, although they shared accommodation for 9 days.

“There is no money from Montreal taxpayers that went to pay for things for family or activities that were not directly related, either to the functions of the Office, or to its mission,” insists -her, without however providing an invoice.

Asked whether the presence of family members did not give, at the very least, the impression that little work was being done there, Ms.^me Ollivier replies:

“If we’re talking about appearance, I’m fine with it. But at the same time, the reality is that we can show you videos, we can show you the photos, we can show you the reports, we can show you the conferences that are given, it’s really not a part of pleasure,” she assures.