Montreal mayor ruffles caucus feathers
Plans to chair executive committee, name opposition members to cabinet
Last Updated: Monday, November 16, 2009 | 8:40 PM ET
CBC News
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Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay was mum on his plans for the city's executive committee Monday. (CBC)Members of Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay’s party are cold to his plan to chair the city’s executive committee himself and appoint members of the opposition to positions of power, caucus sources said Monday.
Tremblay is expected to make the announcements Tuesday as part of his pledge to clean up city hall in light of several police investigations into alleged fraud.
Following a two-hour caucus meeting Monday, neither the mayor or his councillors had much to say to reporters.
"I had a very positive and constructive meeting with my caucus and I will take into consideration the comment that the members of the caucus made to me this morning," Tremblay said.
Quebec’s French-language network TVA suggests Tremblay is also ready to shun two long-serving politicians. Ville-Marie borough councillor Sammy Forcillo and Anjou Mayor Luis Miranda could be left off the executive committee, the report said.
Forcillo said he hadn’t had a call from the mayor.
"It’s up to him, the decision," Forcillo said.
Opposition members of cabinet
It was still unclear Monday which members of the opposition would be named to the executive committee, though newspaper La Presse reported that opposition leader Louise Harel had proposed her own right-hand-man, Rosemont city councillor Pierre Lampron.
The paper suggested Projet Montreal Leader Richard Bergeron, or his party's newly elected mayor of the Plateau-Mont Royal borough, Luc Ferrandez, could also be named to the executive committee.
City councillors Marvin Rotrand, right, and Sammy Forcillo leave a caucus meeting Monday. (CBC)
Harel had said she was open to working with Tremblay and has had a brief chat with him, said her spokesperson, Marie-Hélène d’Entremont.
"He told her that he would call the Vision Montreal member that he chose directly," d’Entremont said.
Projet Montreal Leader Richard Bergeron also confirmed he was invited to talk with the mayor late Monday. "He is the master of the game," Bergeron said.
But, speaking on condition of anonymity, at least one member of Tremblay’s caucus said having members of the opposition in the mayor’s cabinet will be a hard sell.
Tremblay was heavily criticized in the recent municipal election campaign for presiding over a city hall riddled with corruption.
After squeaking out a third consecutive mayoral mandate on Nov. 1, Tremblay promised to change business at city hall and restore the public’s confidence in municipal politics.
The mayor was re-elected with 37.9 per cent of the vote. Turnout was low at 39.44 per cent.
No Montreal mayor has ever chaired the executive committee.
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