BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1510 West

As Quebec Municipal Affairs wraps up this week its inquiries into how the city of Pointe Claire is being run, it will not issue a report, The 1510 West has learned.

“The process does not provide for the writing of a report,” said Sébastien Gariépy, a media spokesperson for the ministry, in a written response to inquiries from The 1510 West.

Officials in Pointe Claire have been meeting with the representative of the provincial government in a series of meetings throughout the last few weeks. The sessions were organized following a vote in April by a majority of the city’s council requesting help from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to restore order in the city.

Some, but not all, members of council have met with a Municipal Affairs official in one-on-one meetings, with some meetings scheduled for this week. At least one meeting has been held with a ministry representative and council as a whole, it has been confirmed. Meetings have also been held that brought in top administrators with the city, including the director-general, the assistant director-general and the clerk, it has been confirmed by a source.

Pointe Claire director-general Karina Verdon and city clerk Caroline Thibault have also met with a provincial official, according to one source.

But without a report on the provincial findings following the meetings, it is not clear what information will be shared with residents.

Asked what actions the ministry could take after completing its interviews with city officials in Pointe Claire, Gariépy said: “The framework provides for other possible actions, but this not currently planned.”

“The city is running well,” said Mayor Tim Thomas, when asked to comment earlier this week.

He would not share the details of the questions he was asked, but said that if anyone looks at how the city is run, they will see that services are being delivered, its finances are in order, it has a budget surplus.

During a special meeting of council in April, all elected representatives except councillor Bruno Tremblay and Thomas voted to approve a motion requesting help from the provincial ministry to restore what was characterized as order in the municipality.

Although the wording of the resolution adopted on April 16 states that deterioration of the climate at city hall cannot be attributed to “a single person, nor a group of elected officials,” councillors have since made it clear they blame Thomas for an acrimonious climate.

“The problem is our mayor, plain and simple,” said councillor Eric Stork in an interview with The 1510 West last month. “Everybody is done,” he said in frustration.

“The mayor doesn’t know how to be a mayor,” said councillor Brent Cowan in a separate interview last month. “He only knows how to be against things.”

In voicing his opposition to the resolution in April, Tremblay accused the majority on council who oppose the mayor of turning to Quebec merely as a political move to discredit the mayor, describing it as “a cannon shot to end political opposition and affect the 2025 election.”

Quebec Municipal Affairs has carried out 141 interventions in municipalities across the province similar to its engagement in Pointe Claire between April 1, 2019, and March 31 of this year, according to information obtained by The 1510 West.

This type of provincial intervention includes “support in conflict management, municipal management and intermunicipal cooperation.”

When asked for examples of the results of these interventions, Gariépy said the ministry does not keep statistics on the service.