Plant promises to do the light

Photo from the account Facebook of Mélanie Joly
On may 17, 2017, Martin Coiteux, Denis Coderre and Mélanie Joly press the button which will illuminate the Jacques-Cartier bridge.

Laurence Houde-Roy

Tuesday, 27-feb-2018 01:00

UPDATE
Tuesday, 27-feb-2018 01:00

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Administration Plant undertakes to shed light on everything that has been spent for the party to 225 000 $ to mayor Denis Coderre on the 17th of may last in the context of the 375th anniversary of Montreal.

The Journal reported Monday that nearly $ 1 million had been paid to the budget of the City of Montreal, for parties, ceremonies, and inaugurations as part of the 375th anniversary of Montreal.

The mayor has, in particular, invited 700 guests in a glass hall in the Old-Montreal 17 may, with luxury buffet breakfast, alcohol and dessert to over $4000.

“Yes, that we are interested in what you have discovered. Yes, we will return to the services and we will hold them accountable. There is no reason not to do it, ” responded on Monday to the head of the culture and heritage of the executive committee, Christine Gosselin.

The Newspaper was able to obtain the total amount given to that party as well as some of the expenses, but several remain to be costed (see box).

Questioned for the past three weeks, the City was unable to provide a complete list of the contracts awarded for this evening.

Promises

Projet Montréal had promised in the campaign to’ open up the books of the 375th anniversary and to shed light on all the expenses “, in addition to adopting “soon after the election,” a policy to force all NPOS that do business with the City to make public their annual reports.

Is this still a priority for the administration Plant ? Ms. Gosselin admits that if they must choose between doing the work of their officials during a week ” so that they can find all invoices in the cenne near, rather than working a week doing something more useful, we will decide “.

The mayor Valerie Plant, on the road in Mexico Monday, also said by email that she wants to shed light on expenditures for the 375th, but it leaves the time to the Society of celebrations of the 375th anniversary of filing its balance sheet, which is planned for April.

Monday morning, nobody at city hall has questioned the calculations of the Newspaper, which had to peel 102 000 bills of officials to come to this conclusion.

In addition to the$ 125 Million already allocated

These expenditures are discovered in the documents of the Town are in addition to the budget of$ 125 Million that had already been given by the various governments to the Society of celebrations of the 375th anniversary, the NPO responsible for the festivities.

Alain Gignac, director general of the Society of celebrations of the 375th anniversary, has denied any involvement Monday in expenditure, saying that it is spending protocol of the city hall.

A former close associate of the mayor Coderre, the current leader of the opposition, Lionel Perez, said that he was even surprised at the cost of the party of the mayor reported by The Journal, “even though it had been presented, [the executive committee] a forecast budget of $ 250,000 for all events of the day of 17 may,” he said.

“We ask that this issue be clarified and that the exact breakdown of the expenditure is provided for the different events,” responded Mr. Perez, who was part of the executive committee at the time.

It remains to be seen

The Journal has been able to find in the invoices (which are permitted in the room by the officials) the detail of some of the expenses for this party, but many expenses related to the organization remain unknown to this day.

• How many have been paid Gregory Charles and his musicians for their animation of the evening ?
• How much has cost the show put on by acrobats to the guests ?
• How much cost the rent of the room of the Belvedere in Old Montreal ?
• How much cost the meal the chef aboriginal Lysanne O’bomsawin ?
• How much cost the meal served by the restaurant in The Virunga ?