Sue Montgomery has walked a long road since early 2020, when she was kicked out of Mayor Valerie Plante’s Projet Montreal party and a very public battle began.
“It was very painful, personally and professionally, to go through,” she told Global News this week.
After reading a recent Quebec Superior Court decision, however, Montgomery feels she finally has something to celebrate.
“I was really happy because finally, I’ve been vindicated,” she said.
In the summer of 2021, the Quebec Municipal Commission suspended Montgomery from her job as mayor of Cote-des-Neiges-NDG, just months before the municipal election.
The commission found her guilty of 11 ethics violations related to disagreements with senior borough officials and her refusal to fire her chief of staff who, according to Montgomery, was wrongfully accused of harassment.
Montgomery refused to fire her chief of staff, because she had not seen proof of any harassment.
“It was an unbelievable witch hunt and unacceptable in a democracy,” she said.
She went to the Quebec Superior Court in an attempt to overturn the decisions, and in a recent decision, judge Alexander Pless sided with Montgomery.
- Some 2019 candidates ‘appeared willing’ to engage with foreign interference: Hogue inquiry
- Princess Anne to help commission new navy vessel in B.C. ceremony
- Foreign interference ‘undermined’ public confidence in elections: inquiry
- Canada, Manitoba to develop Red Dress Alert for missing Indigenous women and girls
In the 38-page ruling, he points to a problematic collaboration between the city and the Quebec Municipal Commission. The commission is supposed to act independently.
He wrote that “a reasonable observer” would conclude that the commission “was exposed to the influence of the city,” and overturned two decisions against Montgomery.
“They worked together to bring me down,” Montgomery said of the Commission and Montreal’s Comptroller General. “That’s what’s so worrisome, because that’s not how democracy is supposed to work. I’m supposed to be voted in or voted out by the people, not destroyed by bureaucrats.”
Montgomery feels her case shows that city employees working at borough offices wield too much power.
“This proves beyond a doubt what we all suspected: that the elected officials are not running the city. The unelected people are,” she said.
“I don’t like to make it a gender thing, but I think it’s the old boys club, like, ‘We’re not taking orders from any woman.'”
The municipal commission refused to comment on the Superior Court decision. Quebec’s Municipal Affairs Minister refused comment as well, though a spokesperson pointed to Bill 49, new legislation that will help the commission’s investigation arm “avoid any confusion.”
At a press conference Sunday, Mayor Valerie Plante also declined to comment on the decision.
“It’s between Sue Montgomery and la Commission Municipale du Quebec. I’m not in that dossier anymore, thank God,” she said.
Montgomery is suing Plante and others alleging defamation.
“Our reputations were severely damaged. I came fourth in the election. I heard it at the doors when I went door to door, people slammed the door in my face,” she said.
Montgomery says she’s been hearing from elected officials from other cities who are having issues dealing with civil servants. She hopes her case helps others in the future.
Comments