The Plante administration quietly changed a rule a few days after the selection of its new police chief Fady Dagher, which allows him to receive his pension in addition to his full salary of nearly $300,000.
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What many police officers call “the Fady clause” has provoked many reactions within the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) and the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).
The modified clause which is causing ink to flow today allows Fady Dagher, who was appointed last November, to receive up to nearly $400,000, if we include a performance bonus and his pension estimated at more of $90,000.
Because, without making this change to the regulations, the chief’s salary would have had to be reduced by half the amount of his annual pension as a former assistant director of the SPVM, as was the case for any other executive retired and rehired by the City.
Photo archives, Joel Lemay
Moreover, remember that Fady Dagher worked for more than 25 years at the SPVM before going to lead the police of Longueuil (SPAL) in 2017 and returning to the fold.
Negotiations with Prud’homme
This benefit, from which he is the only one to benefit from the SPVM, allowed Mr. Dagher to avoid a salary cut that could reach nearly $50,000.
“He knew how to negotiate in a very tight and very skilful way”, specifies the former inspector and former chief of communications with the police force of Montreal, André Durocher.
According to police sources who spoke to us on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, this modification was part of the negotiations he had with Martin Prud’homme, his immediate boss. , before being hired.
Photo archives QMI Agency, Dominick Gravel
Moreover, both Martin Prud’homme and Mayor Valérie Plante were determined to bring him back to the SPVM, even though Dagher had an eight-year contract in his pocket with the SPAL for nearly $300,000, including bonus and benefits.
Temporary change
By modifying its internal regulations, the City will have chosen to pay him handsomely, rather than appointing a candidate who is still employed by the SPVM; including interim director Sophie Roy and assistant director Vincent Richer.
In response to our questions, City of Montreal communications officer Audrey Gauthier explains that the labor shortage has forced the administration to modify the working conditions of executives.
However, she clarified that as the change “is temporary, this clause could be put back in place […]”.
Hiring the chef in a few steps
- October 12 to November 4, 2022: posting of the position at the SPVM management
- November 23, 2022: selection interviews of the last four candidates; Dagher is chosen by the selection committee
- November 24, 2022: official announcement of Dagher’s choice to lead the SPVM
- November 25, 2022: The executive council of the City of Montreal ratifies the selection of Fady Dagher
- November 30, 2022: Montreal modifies a clause of the regulation on the salary treatment of executives
Lack of transparency
Municipal authorities would have benefited from being more transparent, according to a public administration expert and former minister.
“The City needs to be more transparent, if only so that its chief of police is not caught up in a controversy. He must be able to work in peace, “said Rémy Trudel, professor at the National School of Public Administration and former minister.
Beyond transparency, City management made a decision that had other repercussions.
Because, in order to allow Mr. Dagher to obtain better salary conditions than those he had in Longueuil as chief of police, Montreal had to review the salary conditions of civilian executives.
It thus had to readjust the salaries of those who had come out of their pensions to return to work, but with the loss of salary of 50%, which the City confirmed to us without specifying the number or the amount of the readjustments.
“This decision will be expensive for the City,” says Danielle Piquette, professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal and specialist in municipal management, while adding that the Administration has taken great measures to attract the candidate it wanted for lead the Montreal police.
However, the City had internal candidates to whom it could have turned.
The interim director Sophie Roy and one of the assistant directors Vincent Richer were both in the running for the direction of the SPVM.