Montgomery abandoned by colleagues
Sue Montgomery has been abandoned by the other three Projet Montreal councillors on her borough council. They’ve also issued a statement ahead of Monday evening’s council meetings.
All these stories dance around the unanswered question: was the chief of staff really a monster, or is this someone’s office politics standoff blown way out of proportion?
Ian 21:45 on 2020-02-03 Permalink
While I do respect the office of the comptroller and see the importance of separation of powers, I think this whole affair has been handled terribly. I’m with Montagano. We all elected a PM majority with a lot of hope and goodwill but they seem to mostly have squandered it only partway through their term.
Montgomery has gone against the party orthodoxy and has been hung out to dry, just like all the others this happened to before her. Strangely, almost all women get to be the scapegoat for whatever political game du jour there is demanding sacrifice. I thought seeing Plante as mayor might change that but apaprently I was mistaken.
Tim S. 08:38 on 2020-02-04 Permalink
I think it’s telling that the three PM councillors, who have to work most closely with her, are refusing to support her. If it was really an issue of bureaucrats getting in the way of the will of the citizens, I suspect Montgomery would have the full backing of Peter Mcqueen et al. As it is, I suspect this is a case of an inexperienced politician not being able to distinguish the personal from the professional.
Ian 09:07 on 2020-02-04 Permalink
…or maybe those three are afraid of getting hung out to dry too. Unless you know something we don’t, Tim?
Listening to CBC radio this morning, they said that In the meeting last night, Montgomery said Plante had told her she knew the report was bulsh*t but to just fire Harris anyhow. Of course Plante denies this. McQueen et al had a canned statement that was read in the meeting I’m pretty sure none of them wrote. There is definitely more going on here than meets the eye.
Tim S. 09:30 on 2020-02-04 Permalink
It’s a murky story, no doubt. But 5 councillors, from 3 different partisan affiliations (and two genders), support the City’s position. I find that notable.
As for the idea of a stubborn bureaucracy, I’ve several times written to my local councillor here in NDG with various requests – signage and so on.. He forwards those requests to the relevant civil servants, and, much to my surprise, the requests are often implemented. It’s just a few minor examples, but the notion that only Sue Montgomery can save the citizens from an incompetent and possibly corrupt bureaucracy doesn’t hold up, in my eyes.
dwgs 10:03 on 2020-02-04 Permalink
McQueen talks a good talk but will go whichever way the wind blows. I don’t know the other two PM councilors but are you honestly surprised that Rotrand and Perez are seeing a chance to make hay with this? “I’m making an appeal for calm…” says Perez. Uh huh, sure you are.
I don’t know what the truth is in this but the only person who doesn’t seem motivated by self interest in this is Montgomery.
Mr.Chinaski 10:11 on 2020-02-04 Permalink
Who paid for that bus?
Spi 11:07 on 2020-02-04 Permalink
@Ian, what other scapegoats are you referring to? The only other example of this is the mayor of villeray-park-ex-saint-michel, who in a similar (if not identical procedure) was found to be harassing her staff, she was also excluded from the PM caucus but accepted and apologized for her actions.
It seems that procedurally the exact same steps were followed and we’re talking about the same Comptroller, Alain Bond, so why are his findings being put into doubt this time if everyone was fine with them when it came to Giuliana Fumagalli?
What does them being women have to do with it? Are women incapable of harassment?
walkerp 15:06 on 2020-02-04 Permalink
This is an interesting comment on the CBC article:
“When I [sic] Director General of a municipal government can’t or won’t produce key documents about how municipal contracts are awarded, it wiffs of deep corruption”
I remember hearing this before, that Harris was requesting some documents and was getting stonewalled and that’s where the harassment charge came from. I had forgotten this was Applebaum’s fiefdom previously, so there could be some hidden corruption in there that long-term bureaucrats didn’t want to be seen and now for some reason Plante is doubling down to protect them.
Pure speculation, but I still do not understand why Plante is going full nuclear here when the harassment claims are so insubstantial. Would we not be hearing a lot more scuttlebutt about a toxic office culture if Annalisa Harris was some monster of a boss? Why is firing the only option?
I keep going back and forth, but this is smelling fishy more and more to me.
Ian 21:14 on 2020-02-04 Permalink
Spi, I’m talking about Piper Huggins. PM hasn’t changed that much.
Alexander Montagano 22:56 on 2020-02-04 Permalink
I paid for that bus. I am an activist in CDN-NDG. My name is Alex Montagano