The Laval municipal council voted in favor, Tuesday evening, to ask the Quebec Municipal Commission (CMQ) to study the possibility of broadening its investigation into all elected officials in the city. This is following our reporting on councilors’ spending with the elected officials’ expenses and support fund.
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This request comes more than a week after elected officials were targeted for questionable reimbursements. In the notice of proposal, we can read that “Laval suffers from a serious problem of democratic deficit” and that “the Laval municipal council must inspire the greatest confidence in the eyes of the citizens of Laval”.
Elected officials refused to ask the CMQ to expand its investigation into all municipal councilors. Instead, they leave it to the Commission to study the issue. Remember that the CMQ can launch an investigation after a complaint.
For the opposition party Action Laval, where its elected officials are already the subject of an investigation, it is explained that “it is for the good of public institutions”. Councilor Louise Lortie goes further and suggests that the City of Laval publish the reimbursements of elected officials with supporting documents on its website.
The municipal council also adopted unanimously to request from the authorities concerned an update of the Administrative Guide for reimbursement of the support expense fund for elected officials. “The goal is for the rules of the game to be as clear as possible to avoid this type of situation,” explains Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer.
The mayor of Laval had already asked, last week, the city’s general manager to review the regulation to clarify the interpretation, if necessary, of the use of the expenses and support fund for elected officials.
The CMQ investigation was primarily aimed at Councilor Paolo Galati. The elected official made taxpayers pay for groceries and Apple products worth $16,000. Galati was excluded from his party, Action Laval. He now sits as an independent.
Paolo Galati was present at this evening’s city council. He took the opportunity to briefly talk about his reimbursement requests. Galati explains that all elected officials, according to his investigation, had questionable expenses and that his were for citizen meetings.
Galati declined to answer our questions.
The elected “life coach” of the Mouvement Lavallois was also on the municipal council. He didn’t want to answer our questions either. Alexandre Warnet instead referred us to his publication on the Internet by telling us: “you know how to read”, at the microphone of TVA Nouvelles.
Alexandre Warnet had taxpayers pay $5,800 for his training to become a life coach in June 2023. After being informed of our report, the mayor’s office asked its elected official to reimburse Laval residents. Warnet gave the money back to the City of Laval.
