BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1510 West

The Commission municipale du Québec will formally assess accusations levelled against Pointe Claire Mayor Tim Thomas that allege he misused his city-supplied car and credit card next month, according to the scheduled published by the tribunal.

The hearing will be held July 21 at the commission’s headquarters in Montreal.

It is at this time that evidence will be presented. Details of the allegations will not be made public until then. The identity of the individual or individuals who filed the complaint are not revealed.

Thomas was notified of a complaint registered with the quasi-judicial body that oversees municipal matters in March, when he was issued an ethics citation, a two-page form letter that cites four allegations that he contravened the City of Pointe Claire’s ethics rules. The allegations include having used the car leased for him by the city for personal use; having used a city-issued credit card to purchase gas for the vehicle while using the car for personal use; and charging meal expenses while travelling to meetings of the Montreal Agglomeration council.

The citation was issued almost two months after Thomas was summoned by Commission municipale officials and questioned about the anonymous complaint lodged against him. He answered questions for about four hours.

According to the Commission municipale, a citation is issued when its municipal integrity investigations and prosecutions directorate “believes that the information in its possession is likely to demonstrate that a municipal elected official or office staff member has violated an ethics rule.”

In this instance, the commission could find fault with Thomas and/or the City of Pointe Claire’s administration’s actions.

If found in breach of an ethics violation, Thomas could face a penalty that ranges from a reprimand to being ordered to reimburse any benefit received, a suspension or fined a maximum of $4,000 for every breach upheld by the commission.

During a public council meeting in April, Thomas vehemently defended his actions with respect to his use of the city-leased vehicle and credit card, and compared his expense claims with those of former mayor John Belvedere.

Thomas claimed he spent $4,844 in gas, which was charged to his city credit card during a period of time that stretched from shortly after his election in late 2021 and when it was revoked by the city’s administration in 2024, a period of less than three years. The amount is comparable to the gas charges of $5,510 posted by Belvedere during his four-year term in office, from 2017 to 2021. Thomas said he obtained the figures through an access-to-information request.

Thomas also said he charged a total of $1,326 on his city credit card on meals, which represented working dinners with other mayors of demerged municipalities following meetings at the Montreal Agglomeration council. In comparison, he said, Belvedere accumulated $10,966 in meal charges during his term in what Thomas described as a variety of contexts, including meals in Pointe Claire with other members of council where he picked up their tab.

The City of Pointe Claire’s administration opted not to continue to provide Thomas with a car in  April 2024, after the vehicle was damaged beyond repair when the mayor hit a deer in the Laurentians, where he was visiting his mother. The city’s director-general at that time also asked Thomas to return the credit card that had been issued to him by the municipality.