August 17, 2016
The city of Montreal unveiled new measures it says will make it easier to prevent and crack down on corruption involving municipal contracts. In a presentation made at Wednesday’ executive committee meeting, the city said updates to the bylaw governing city contracts came after an investigation by the city’s inspector general made public last June revealed there was still corruption around snow removal contracts. The bylaw will be put to a vote at Monday’s city council meeting.
The new measures will bar anyone found to be directly or indirectly colluding or influencing the bid process, even subcontractors, from bidding on city contracts. Violators will not be permitted to bid again on city work for a period of five years, and those found to be influencing the process will not even be permitted to complete the work they have been awarded. The policy is also retroactive, meaning anyone found to have contravened it in the five years prior to the time the bylaw is passed can be barred from future work.