The president and CEO of the Musée de la civilization, Stéphan La Roche, defended himself on Friday for having proceeded in opacity for the sale of the heritage building of the Maison Chevalier to a group that owns Ameublement Tanguay.
Mr. La Roche reacted for the first time to the criticisms which have been rising since the transaction was made public, in mid-October, after its authorization by the government.
“There was no opacity in this file, he said in an interview with the To have to. It was never done on the sly or in a quick and abrupt manner. “
Mr. La Roche concedes in a hint that he could have opted for a public call for projects before selling the building built in 1752, whose municipal assessment is $ 2.2 million.
“What we believed, perhaps wrongly, is that if we had done that, we would have ended up with offers that would not have been in accordance with the heritage context,” he explained.
The Museum was concerned that an open process would force it to “deal with far-fetched requests.”
The Ministry of Culture authorized the institution to start the sales process in 2018.
But in 2016, “exploratory steps” were taken with the Coopérative du quartier Petit-Champlain which, according to Mr. La Roche, signaled its disinterest in 2018.
Quebec City and its partner, the World Organization of Heritage Cities, were approached in 2017. In 2019, they also told the Museum that they would not buy Maison Chevalier, located in Old Quebec.
Finally, Gestion 1608, a subsidiary of the Tanguay Group, contacted the Museum directly in the fall of 2020. In November, an offer was made and in December, the board of directors approved it.
” In good faith “
“It was done very quickly,” admits Mr. La Roche, without revealing the price of the transaction, which will be made public later.
The duty reported on Friday that the Museum had not followed up on a second expression of interest from the Coopérative du quartier du Petit-Champlain, in November 2019. General manager Sandra Turgeon said she would have liked to be informed before the Tanguay’s offer be accepted.
Mr. La Roche felt that the Cooperative had sent contradictory signals. “They should have come forward before,” he replied to justify himself.
In front of the criticisms which fuse, Mr. La Roche wanted to defend his way of proceeding.
“We acted in good faith, we respected all the rules,” he said, pleading his good faith.
Aware that the transaction is prompting comments, Mr. La Roche has denied any connection with buyers.
“I don’t know them, the Tanguays,” he said. All kinds of business went around. “
Mr. La Roche explained that the Maison Chevalier, for which the Museum had been responsible since the 1980s, was not part of its collections. As such, it is not subject to policies that provide for a public call for proposals when the Museum transfers property valued in excess of $ 75,000.
“It’s real estate, it can’t be a collector’s item, people are confused,” he said.
The Museum has examined the possibility of using the Maison Chevalier to house the Blue Spaces, a new government heritage program that provides for the injection of $ 259 million.
But according to Mr. La Roche, its too small dimensions and the fact that it is a classified heritage property prevented its integration into the building stock of the Blue Spaces, placed under the management of the Museum.
“There’s not much you can do inside,” he said. You can’t pack the walls, you can’t change the windows. It is difficult to set up museum conditions in a classified property. “
He is convinced that the new owners will maintain public access to this house, despite criticism from his predecessor, Michel Côté, who deplored the transaction by recalling that it was the only house from that time that could be visited. in the Petit-Champlain and Place Royale sectors.
“Mr. Tanguay repeated that he wants to make the house accessible to the public,” said Mr. La Roche.
“Cachotteries”
Liberal MP Christine St-Pierre accused Museum leaders of lacking transparency, in addition to skinning Mr. La Roche.
“They leave a perception of secrecy that there have been things that have been done behind abnormally closed doors,” she said in an interview. The museum is a crown corporation, it is not a business. And the CEO of the Museum worked like an amateur. “
According to Mme St-Pierre, spokesperson for culture issues, it would have been necessary to proceed by call for proposals.
“They should have made a call for interest and see which partners are interested,” she said. They should have set up an independent committee to analyze the proposals. “
For her part, the deputy for Québec solidaire Catherine Dorion, spokesperson for heritage files, regretted the departure of the Maison Chevalier from the public fold, while siding behind the transaction and the government authorization that allowed her to go forward.
“The museum has done its best,” she assures us.
Mme Dorion learned before she was elected that the Maison Chevalier was for sale.
“When the house was forced to be put up for sale, yes, we heard about it,” she explained. Me, it started from my head and I was not a Member of Parliament at the time. “
She pleaded her busy schedule as to why she didn’t step in to try to prevent the deal before it was announced.
“I work 70 hours a week and at no time am I unemployed,” she said.
What we believed, perhaps wrongly, is that if we had done that, we would have ended up with offers that would not have been consistent with the heritage context.