In the run-up to the next municipal election, Projet Montreal wants to remind voters of the Mordecai Richler gazebo and Formula E race, calling them examples of flagrant spending.
Mayoral candidate Valerie Plante said her party, if elected, would bring on a group of engineers and elected officials to create an accountability commission, something Plante said is lacking at City Hall.
"We want to make sure there's a process during the construction or during the project, which is not happening. We have a before, we have an after - we don't have a middle part," Plante told CTV Montreal.
Ville Marie candidate Jabiz Sharifian joined Plante at the now infamous Mordecai Richler gazebo Wednesday. The project was first announced in 2011, was supposed to cost about $350,000.
Following multiple delays, the gazebo was opened to the public three years late and at a cost of $724,000. The final cost of the Formula E event will not be known until after the next election.
Sharifian said this type of cost overrun is an all too often story for city projects.
"I'm an engineer and project manager by trade and I can assure you, in the private sector if there were cost overruns like this, the board would be asking lots of questions and indeed they would have to answer to all of the shareholders. We would require that for sure, and as Montrealers we would expect the same amount and level of accountability from our municipality," she said.
Mayor Denis Coderre responded to his oppositions claims, saying agencies like the one Plante is calling for already exist, and while there are some projects you can point to that say otherwise, overall the city is finishing most projects on time and on budget.
"That's not for nothing we have a new credit quote from A+ to AA-. It's because we know how to manage and we're cutting expenses. We do what we need to do. We're a new integrated management and integrity is back," Coderre said.