City council will soon debate a motion that would ban members of the Mayor's executive committee from sitting on council's finance committee, which studies the city's budget.
The motion, which is being presented by Snowdon councillor Marvin Rotrand (Coalition Montréal) and Saint-Laurent borough mayor Alan DeSousa (Ensemble Montréal), aims to prevent "any appearance of a conflict of interest."
A spokesperson from Valérie Plante's office confirmed to the Journal de Montréal that the motion will be debated when council resumes.
While the motion recognizes that the presence of executive committee members on council committees can be useful in some cases, it also says that "a member of the executive committee who also sits on a standing committee acts as both a judge and a party...and that can reverse an established consensus" after the finance committee has made a decision.
Maisonneuve-Longue-Pointe councillor Laurence Lavigne Lalonde (Projet Montréal) would likely be forced off the finance committee if the motion passes. Lalonde is responsible for Transparency, Democracy, Governance and Citizenship, as well as the Commission on Human Resources, in the Plante administration.