The tip of the iceberg?

Jean-Louis Fortin

Monday, 26 February, 2018 01:00

UPDATE
Monday, 26 February, 2018 01:00

Look at this article

Our Bureau of investigation was able to peel the expenses of the City, but the bulk of the expenses of the Celebrations of the 375th is located in the budget of$ 125 Million of the Company’s celebrations of the 375th anniversary of Montreal.

And two months after the end of the celebrations, the taxpayers are still unable to know how this money has been spent, despite the promises of transparency of Valérie Plant during the election campaign.

The only portrait available holds on a page and is found in the annual report 2016 of the Company of the 375th anniversary (the most recent to have been published). It does not contain any information on the contracts awarded.

And since it is a non-profit organization (NPO), the Society for the 375th is not subject to the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies, even if the vast majority of its funding comes from Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa.

The organization indicates on its web site that ” the final activity report will be available in the spring of 2018 “. We do not know what will contain this document.

Questioned for the past three weeks, the City has been unable to provide a list of the contracts awarded to the private party at $ 225,000 as of may 17,. It was not able to produce a summary table of the 6 lines with approximate figures.

The office of the mayor has not been able to give us more information. Valérie Plante, who was elected on 5 November last, had promised ” to make public, the day after the election, all expenditures made by the Company of the 375th anniversary “.