SQ investigating city of Montreal real estate deals
The mayor of Montreal says they will cooperate fully with the SQ now that it's investigating some questionable real estate deals made by the city's housing and development corporation.
"It is effectively troubling and worriesome, " says Quebec Municipal Affairs Minister Nathalie Normandeau, after reading the report by Montreal's auditor general. Those are words the auditor general himself used in describing the real estate transactions: property sold far below market value or without proper authorization, out of 300-million dollars worth of land and buildings.
But Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay insists officials with the corporation and its board of director made decisions without their knowledge.
"We're always responsible, the mayor is always responsible in a sense because we're talking about public funds."
But Tremblay says they just didn't know.
"It was very difficult for the city of Montreal and the executive committee to get the information."
Benoit Labonté is unconvinced.
"They should have asked questions," he says, the official opposition leader adding the mayor didn't have control over the situation.
"I said the Montreal version of the sponsorship scandal," Labonté says, describing the situation where land and buildings were bought and renovated at taxpayers' expense. He's still demanding the city try to immediately recoup the money that was lost.
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