St-Vincent councillor Galati leaves AL caucus, withdraws from SWLSB election race
Citing media reports raising questions about his municipal spending practices, Action Laval councillor for Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Paolo Galati says he will not be running for re-election as the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board’s chairman, so that his role with the city doesn’t impact the SWLSB.
“Various media outlets have reported on reimbursement claims made by Paolo Galati in his capacity as a municipal councillor for the City of Laval,” the board said in a Sept. 19 statement.
“None of these reports involve the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, of which Mr. Galati is the Chairperson,” said the statement which was attributed to Galati.
Seeks expenses review
“I have represented the people of my electoral district in Laval and the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board with pride and integrity for over a decade,” said Galati.
“To date, I have an unblemished record in the public service. I have asked that my expenses as a municipal councillor be reviewed once again by the City of Laval’s financial services. Once they have pronounced on the matter, I will act accordingly.
“However, in the current environment, I do not wish for my role as a municipal councillor to impact the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, to which I have devoted much energy over the past decade and which I love,” he continued.
“I have therefore decided not to be a candidate in the upcoming school board elections that will be held on November 3, 2024. Furthermore, to avoid being a distraction to the governance and administration of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, I will, for the time being, be stepping back from certain public functions associated with my role as Chairperson of the board,” added Galati.
Apple Watch, iPad Pro etc.
When the Montreal daily tabloid Journal de Montréal published the results of an access-to-information investigation on Sept. 18, claiming among other things that Galati and the Action Laval opposition party had used a research budget from the city to buy him an Apple Watch, an iPad Pro tablet, an iMac desktop, a MacBook Pro, as well as a sofa bed and food purchases at Costco, Action Laval issued a statement maintaining that a number of the newspaer’s claims were misplaced or inaccurate.
According to the Journal, each of Action Laval’s four councillors was entitled to $46,000 in research budget funding in 2023. As Action Laval interim-leader Achille Cifelli noted in a statement, the term “research” – which is used when referring to the budget from which funds are drawn by the administration for councillors’ needs related to their work – can be used for up to 16 different kinds of expense.
Used for various expenses
Research funds are allotted from the mayor’s office budget to councillors who are registered members of a political party and who obtain at least 20 per cent of eligible votes. According to Cifelli, they can be used for virtually anything defined as day-to-day research, including the hiring of staff, office equipment, or even the outsourcing of public opinion surveys.
Quoting from a 2017 Quebec Municipal Affairs Ministry document providing guidelines for the reimbursement of research expenses, Cifelli maintained that the funds can even be used for advertising expenses when the purpose of the ads is to make the name of an elected official, along with his or her photo and office address, better known to constituents, and that even Mayor Stéphane Boyer does so.
According to Cifelli, other expenses the research budget funds can be used for include the purchase of special or charitable event tickets, office stationery, cell phones, computer supplies, mass mailings and maintenance of web sites.
City reviews all claims, Cifelli says
He also noted that all such expenses get analyzed and approved by staff at Laval city hall, and that the city’s treasurer has the right to reject any reimbursement claim which does not conform to accepted norms.
As well, Cifelli emphasized that each individual councillor is responsible for managing their own research budget, and that “neither the leader, nor the caucus of elected officials nor the party ever intervene in the reimbursement process.” In addition, the councillors are expected to return all purchased items and materials to the city at the end of a mandate, or to purchase them at their depreciated cost.
With that said, Cifelli announced in a statement issued shortly before midnight on Sept. 18 that he and Galati were in mutual agreement that Galati would withdraw from the Action Laval caucus, given the fact that the Quebec Municipal Commission had opened a dossier that morning to investigate the Journal de Montréal’s allegations.
Inquiry announced on ‘X’
Rather than make the principal announcement through a dedicated ministry channel such as a press release, Municipal Affairs Minister Andrée Laforest chose to trumpet the CMQ’s investigation on the social media platform X, with the added twist that all four members of the Action Laval city council caucus would be investigated.
“We favorably welcome the inquiry sought by the minister, as it will allow us to shed all the necessary light on this affair,” Cifelli said regarding the minister’s announcement. “If it were to come to light that some expenses were judged as being non-conforming, it would be clear for us at Action Laval that Mr. Galati will have to act in accordance,” he said regarding Cifelli in a separate statement, without elaborating.
More AL ‘research’ purchases
While the Journal singled out Galati in its exposé, they also noted that a $900 Apple Air Pods headset was purchased for Cifelli from research funds (after he lost a $329 pair a few months before). As well, Action Laval city councillor for Chomedey Aglaia Revelakis claimed several thousand dollars in expenses from last year’s research budget after she purchased an Apple iPad Pro for $1,900 with a keyboard for $500.
Although the Journal’s investigation focused almost entirely on Action Laval, with very little mention of research budget expenses incurred by councillors sitting with the mayor’s party, the Mouvement lavallois, TVA (the Journal de Montréal’s television counterpart at Quebecor media) reported.
EDITOR’S NOTE
The Laval News, would like to point out that it does not take any pleasure in publishing this type of article, but is obliged to do so in order to
inform the population and respect its mission of information and impartiality.
