The former general manager of the Société de Transport de Saguenay (STS), Jean-Luc Roberge, was questioned at length about the report of the Saguenay auditor on Thursday afternoon after his dismissal.
Mr Roberge is contesting his dismissal a year ago before the Administrative Labor Court.
The decision of the board of directors was based on the report of the auditor (AG) of the city of Saguenay, Sylvie Jean, who received her mandate in 2019.
The city’s Treasury Commission regretted that the manager’s questions, requesting that the city increase its budget while STS posted a $600,000 deficit, received either no responses or incomplete responses with delays.
At the end of November 2021, after the local elections, the AG submitted a draft of the final report to the STS for comment.
Mr Roberge admitted on Thursday that he had not deemed it appropriate to present that report to the board members.
The former director-general also previously admitted that he had failed to follow through on a written promise he made to certain council members to hire a consultant to help put the STS’s finances in order.
The court hearings began on Wednesday.
Mr Roberge, the first witness called, attributed his sacking to his name having been ‘blacklisted’ by Mayor Julie Dufour, along with former clerk Caroline Dion (who was sacked by the local council a month ago) and former General Manager Jean-François Boivin (retired a few months ago).
The lawyer for the STS, Me Félix-Antoine Michaud, reminded him that the auditor’s mandate had been given by the government of Josée Néron, Julie Dufour’s predecessor.
Those hearings will continue next week and are scheduled for nine days, but the schedule could be revised upwards.