Scandal at the OCPM: Quebec wants to change the law to prevent abusive spending

Quebec intends to legislate very quickly to better supervise the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) and thus curb excessive spending.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, will not wait for the conclusions of the investigation by the Auditor General (AG) of Montreal to act, according to our information.

OCPM employees would become employees of the City of Montreal subject to the same existing management and ethics policies thanks to a modification of the Charter of the City of Montreal.

Amendments to this effect could be tabled this week in the National Assembly, we have learned.

If the OCPM had been subject to the same rules as municipal officials, many questionable expenses revealed by our Bureau of Investigation could not have been made.

Meetings prohibited

The presidents Dominique Ollivier and Isabelle Beaulieu and the general secretaries Luc Doray and Guy Grenier would, for example, not have had the right to hold internal meetings in restaurants.

Generally speaking, expenses made abroad on a City credit card would have been prohibited, such as the $347 oyster dinner that Dominique Ollivier shared with Guy Grenier for his birthday.

The OCPM’s numerous international trips should also have been approved by the director general or one of his deputies.

Isabelle Beaulieu could not have bought Apple headphones for $900, because the City’s procurement policies are much more restrictive.

M^my Ollivier and Beaulieu could not have hired Guy Grenier without at least notifying the Comptroller General of their previous business relationship which caused the appearance of a conflict of interest.

In the wake of our revelations, the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, commissioned a performance audit of the OCPM from the general auditor. However, the mayor said she was powerless to modify the City Charter.

Minister Laforest committed to following the recommendations of the VG.

Interim

But Quebec intends to act more promptly, in particular to add a formal interim presidency process to the OCPM.

Currently, nothing in the Charter regulates the absence of a presidency and the nomination process is long. A selection committee must first be created to evaluate the applications. The decision must then be approved by two-thirds of the elected representatives of the municipal council.

It was thus five months before the Office had a new president after the hasty departure of Ms.^me Ollivier in 2021 to run for Projet Montréal.

In the meantime, it was Luc Doray, the general secretary, who had temporarily directed the organization.

With the dismissal of president Isabelle Beaulieu, it is the current secretary general Guy Grenier who has become de facto the highest manager.

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However, Mr. Grenier also increased the number of questionable expenses.

Mayor Plante and Minister Laforest called for his resignation, but he is holding on. Since he is not an employee of the City, he can only be fired by the person who chairs the OCPM.

The proposed Charter changes would make it possible to appoint a temporary leader more quickly through a simple majority vote of the municipal council.

The Charter of the City of Longueuil, whose articles on the Office of Public Participation are attached to those of the OCPM, would also be amended in the same way.

The saga of questionable expenses of the OCPM

As of November 3, our Bureau of Investigation revealed that current and past leaders of the OCPM had made numerous extravagant expenditures, on restaurants and travel, and that they maintained a culture of cronyism.

• Valérie Plante’s number 2, Dominique Ollivier, resigned from her position as president of the executive committee on November 13, following our revelations.

• When she was president of the OCPM, M^me Ollivier hired his former business partner Guy Grenier to accompany him on his missions abroad. She also held numerous working meetings with her general secretary Luc Doray in chic Montreal restaurants, particularly at Ibérica.

• The president of the OCPM, Isabelle Beaulieu, was dismissed by the municipal council on November 21 for “serious misconduct” and the organization was placed under supervision by the City.

• M^me Beaulieu, who was president before the scandal broke out, held many work meetings at restaurants, particularly Chez Alexandre. She also made several expenditures on electronic equipment, including $900 Apple headphones.