Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough Mayor Sue Montgomery has been kicked out of the Projet Montreal caucus.
In a statement released Friday afternoon, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante explained that Montgomery had refused to implement the recommendations of the city’s controller general over allegations of harassment within the borough office.
In September of 2019, the City of Montreal appointed two investigators to review allegations of psychological harassment towards two employees.
The investigation concluded that the two employees were, in fact, victims of harassment.
The city’s controller general put in place immediate measures to prevent further harassment and submitted several recommendations.
Plante says Montgomery chose to contest the validity of the report and its conclusions and has openly refused to apply the controller’s recommendations.
Plante says numerous attempts were made urging Montgomery to comply and that faced with her refusal she had no choice but to remove her from caucus.
“I have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to harassment,” Plante said in a written statement. “That goes for elected officials, political personnel and our public servants.”
Montgomery, for her part, took to Twitter saying she was disappointed with the decision.
She alleges that she was being asked to fire someone without evidence and said she would not condone what she describes as “a lack of due process”
In her tweet, Montgomery defends her actions, saying she would be the last person to condone harassment.
While some residents have thrown their support behind Montgomery online, opposition councillor Marvin Rotrand confirms the environment at the borough offices was not healthy.
“We’re outside of the complaint, we don’t really know what was investigated. But I can tell you, the atmosphere in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce has been counterproductive,” Rotrand told Global News.
According to Rotrand, there’s a lawsuit “that may or may not have not been settled” in which Montgomery’s former chief of staff was allegedly fired without offer of severance and “basically escorted off the property”.
“I’m fairly sure that this is sort of going to be the end of Sue Montgomery’s sojourn in municipal politics,” Rotrand added.
Montgomery says she is planning to hold a press conference in the next few days.