If only to preserve their own profession and this little thing called democracy, you would think that politicians would be working hard to restore voter confidence and fight growing cynicism asstories of scandals and of gross mismanagement of public funds keep piling up.
Well, think again. Even in the face of the city auditor-general's scathing report on the $600-million waterworks contract, Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay rejoiced at the absence of any direct allegations of corruption in how this contract was prepared and given out.
The mayor was happy, even though the auditor-general handed the whole thing over to the Sûreté du Québec for a police investigation - another one.
Former Liberal labour minister Jean Cournoyer put it this way: "If I were Tremblay, I'd get the hell out of there." "As for me," he quipped, "I would have resigned."
Instead, the mayor said he'd cancel the contract, but after the election. He announced he let go city manager Claude Léger and assistant city manager Robert Cassius de Linval. He didn't give any concrete reasons, but said it was decided by mutual agreement.
It smelled like a classic sacrificial-lamb operation. whereby a politician "punishes" some of his own people to create the appearance that something is being done. More importantly, he does it to ensure the staff bears the cross of accountability, instead of those who were elected to manage the public purse.
Adding insult to injury, Le Devoir and La Presse reported that these two lambs got a "contract termination without cause." This allows Léger to keep his pension and get a hefty $244,494 in severance pay. As for Linval, he gets $182,070 in severance. Not bad for scapegoats.
Mind you, in this province public funds are turned over to incompetent administrators by the hundreds of thousands of dollars as "severance pay" - even former Caisse de dépôt CEO, Henri-Paul Rousseau walked away with $380,000 in severance, although the Caisse lost $40 billion, $10 billion of which was blamed on mismanagement.
A city hall spokesperson said the arrangement with Léger and Linval was to "avoid being sued" by them. But why be afraid if they were let go for serious reasons? But if, instead, this is only bad theatre, then the mayor has made a mockery of what could have led to the biggest waste of public funds in this city's history.
But the mayor is a lucky man. He has friends in high places. Yesterday, La Presse reported that the Charest government is getting ready to lend a hand to Tremblay. If this is true, get ready to see voter cynicism go through the roof.
While there are some Péquistes in Tremblay's camp and some Liberals with Harel, there's no denying the provincial undertone to this duel between a former Liberal minister and a former PQ minister. With the Liberals in power and their close ties to the Tremblay administration, forget neutrality in this showdown.
As a foretaste, last April 29 - before Harel had officially entered the race - then municipal affairs minister Nathalie Normandeau showed who is the government's pick for mayor: "If there was one minister who treated the municipal milieu with condescension, it was the Parti Québécois with Louise Harel." Ouch.
So, according to La Presse, the Charest government is preparing to pepper this campaign with investments for Montreal. Which means lots of good-news announcements with the mayor smiling in nice photo-ops.
In other words, the Charest government intends to do what it can to make sure that the city hall of Quebec's metropolis stays in good Liberal hands. Not that anyone in government seriously thinks Tremblay would finish a third mandate if he gets it. Already 66 and with a disastrous second term under his belt, few envisage him staying on another four long years.
But if Tremblay is re-elected, Liberals and their network of friendly businesspeople would continue to be welcome in city hall. This would also give them time to groom another Liberal to succeed Tremblay. It's not as if names aren't already circulating.
So, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to yet another episode of "How to feed voter cynicism."