Coderre continues to keep affairs quiet
Denis Coderre continues to maintain he’s not hiding anything while hiding things. As said in this CultMTL piece, “It’s reasonable to expect a mayoral candidate, especially one who disappeared from municipal politics into the private sector for four years, to prove that they have no conflicts of interest.” In La Presse, Michel C. Auger echoes the same idea and Patrick Lagacé – avowedly not a big fan – points out the flaw in Coderre’s response.
dhomas 10:22 on 2021-11-02 Permalink
He claims he has “des ententes de confidentialité”. He also says he will divulge the information if/when he is elected. Will those NDAs stop being valid after the election? If he can release the info after the election, what’s stopping him from doing it now?
Joey 10:22 on 2021-11-02 Permalink
Seems to me that Coderre would rather keep details of his last few years private, and probably suspects he’s going to lose. If he pulls out a win, it won’t be because of or despite his decision not to disclose this information. If he felt it could push him over the top, he’d release his returns – but he doesn’t, so he won’t. The downside of revealing all that info if he’s going back to the private sector far outeweighs in his mind the benefit of playing along…
dhomas 10:26 on 2021-11-02 Permalink
@Joey that’s my thinking, as well. He’s lying when he says he has confidentiality issues. He’s really just looking out for his best interests in the event he needs to return to the private sector. That’s fine, everyone looks out for themselves, but don’t lie about it. We’re not dumb.
Spi 17:38 on 2021-11-02 Permalink
There’s a difference between willingly violating an NDA and complying with laws that require you to disclose conflict on interests should he win, both might get you a list of who’s been employing him over the past 4 years but are very different propositions legally.
dhomas 18:10 on 2021-11-02 Permalink
Fair point, Spi. My bias was showing. Your conclusion makes the most sense.
ant6n 07:02 on 2021-11-03 Permalink
In the future when applying for jobs, I’ll just fill gaps in my CV with “2017-2019: NDA” so I don’t have to admit what I did or didn’t do…
Cadichon 08:40 on 2021-11-03 Permalink
@ Spi, Coderre’s legal obligation would only be to disclose current conflict of interests (company he owns etc.), and not the list of who’s been employing him. So the fact that he is elected wouldn’t affect the NDAs.
Joey 09:35 on 2021-11-03 Permalink
@spi except that Coderre is, as usual, full of it. From La Presse today:
“Le PDG de Cogir assure par ailleurs qu’il n’a fait signer aucune entente de confidentialité à M. Coderre. L’ancien maire a pourtant affirmé lors d’entrevues, en réponse à des questions sur les mandats qu’il a occupés, qu’il ne pouvait pas nommer l’ensemble de ses clients parce qu’il avait signé de telles ententes.”
Spi 11:33 on 2021-11-03 Permalink
@Cadichon a conflict of interest can persist through time even though you have no present dealings and attachments to it. It might be subject to interpretation but I assume there’s a lawyer/bureaucrate who’s job is to handle this.
thomas 02:18 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
I suspect it is bullshit that NDAs prevent Coderre from revealing a working relationships. NDAs are meant to prevent disclosure or use of corporate secrets. Having signed many NDAs, I have never seen disclosure of the relationship itself part of the corporate secrets, especially if Corderre would be almost certainly dealing with 3rd parties who would then be made aware of such a business relationship.
Coderre should have anticipated such questions would arise and it is symbolic of his surprisingly shambolic campaign that he had no better answer than to hide behind a made-up legality — which he would then break (trust him in Trump-like style) if elected.