The “blacklist” of people ineligible for Montreal contracts is expected to be challenged in court in the coming days. The founder of a major snow removal company in the province, Entreprises KL Mainville (EKLM), whom the executive committee plans to register in this register, intends to attack the decision by alleging that the City cannot establish such an index.
Last June, the Office of the Inspector General of Montreal (BIG) published an investigation report which showed that EKLM and its director at the time, Serge Mainville, had allowed Louis-Victor Michon to work in the execution of municipal contracts. However, Mr. Michon was a contractor ineligible for City contracts for facts relating to collusion.
I had to withdraw [de la compagnie] for the survival of the company
The Inspector General said that EKLM had subcontracted its snow removal contracts for several years to Excavation Bromont, a company owned by Daniel Girard on paper, but which was controlled in practice by Louis-Victor Michon thanks to a system of nominees.
Maintaining that Serge Mainville “was fully aware of the inadmissibility status of Louis-Victor Michon”, the Inspector General then terminated the two contracts awarded to EKLM and recommended that Mr. Mainville be entered in the register of persons ineligible to obtain contracts on the territory of the metropolis.
“My client denies having had knowledge that Mr. Michon controlled de facto Bromont Excavation Company. This is something that was never brought to his attention by the people who had set up this scheme, “says Me Alain Chevrier, representing Mr. Mainville.
Suddenly, if the executive committee registers the founder of EKLM in the register of persons ineligible for city contracts on Wednesday, as anticipated by Me Chevrier, “we are going to attack this decision directly”. He specifies that, in this eventuality, legal procedures will be initiated by the end of the week.
The founder of EKLM intends first of all to refute the facts of which he is accused by the BIG. But above all, he intends to maintain that the register of inadmissible persons kept by the City does not fall under municipal jurisdiction: “It is a power which, by virtue of the law, is only conferred on the Autorité des marchés publics. »
He therefore intends to ask the judge that this “discretionary power” of the metropolis be declared null.
“If we win our case on this — and I have every hope that we will — the provisions of the City of Montreal’s contract management by-law which gives it the power to draw up a list of companies or inadmissible people, it will fall like a house of cards,” he said.
A framework in good standing according to the City
By email, the City of Montreal refuses to comment on the file, contenting itself with declaring that it has confidence in “the legality of the regulatory framework and of all the actions taken to date by the City for the protection of the best interests of the population”.
In the OIG’s report on this case, the Inspector General maintains that the legitimacy of a “blacklist” rests first of all on the fact that it is integrated into the regulations governing the awarding of contracts in the metropolis. Posted on the public tender portal, the ineligibility register is accessible to both contractors and the general public.
But above all, the inspector mentions the need for such a measure to prevent a company that has lost a contract by contravening municipal regulations from remaining eligible: “In the absence of such a register of ineligibility, the offender could be a candidate for his own succession by filing a new bid, and if he proves to be the lowest bidder, the municipality would have no choice but to award him a new contract. »
Contacted by The duty, Serge Mainville, for his part, maintains that he has already suffered the impact of the BIG’s decision. He sold EKLM and retired from both administration and management of the company. EKLM has also changed its name, becoming Valosphere Environment this fall.
“There is no hiding place. I had to withdraw [de la compagnie] for the survival of the company, says Mr. Mainville. I had to make a sacrifice: either I retired to ensure the survival of the company and keep the jobs, or I sent everything up for auction and we closed a company that employs between 200 and 300 people. »