Why did it take the city of Montreal five years and $720,000 to refurbish a gazebo on Mount Royal to honour Montreal-born author Mordecai Richler?
According to Montreal's inspector-general Denis Gallant: questionable management practices and lack of rigour.
Gallant wrote the project is a shining example of how public funds went wasted unnecessarily.
The renovations were handled by Montreal's department of large parks, which the inspector said multiple personnel changes and an overall lack of how to handle heritage projects led to many delays, forcing the city to redo its plans for the gazebo.
While the cost overruns were a main focus of Gallant's report, the inspector-general also pointed out some of the work did not follow proper regulations, which could force crews to do more work, costing taxpayers more money.
When crews destroyed the roof of the structure and went through the process to remove lead paint, they did not have the proper approvals from Ministry of Culture and Communications, which puts the work in question.
"Before you do any work in the Mount Royal Heritage district the provincial Culture Ministry has to sign off on it" said Projet Montreal councillor Alex Norris. "It leaves an open question as to whether that work will have to be redone."