Projet Montréal, Mayor Valérie Plante’s political party, is in trouble over election costs. Élections Québec has filed a criminal complaint against a former party leader for “fraudulent electoral maneuvers”.
The party’s general director from 2015 to 2018, Marie Depelteau-Paquette, received a criminal complaint in late September for helping the official “submit an electoral expense report that was incomplete or contained a false statement or information.”
The facts date back to the 2017 municipal election campaign that brought Valérie Plante and her party to the leadership of Montreal for the first time.
According to information from our Bureau of Investigation, Élections Québec employees spent several months reviewing Projet Montréal’s financial documents in this matter.
Investigators reportedly found that the party had concealed tens of thousands of dollars in expenses to meet the legal maximum.
Ms. Depelteau-Paquette, who no longer works for Projet Montréal or its elected officials as of August 2022, pleaded not guilty to this charge of “fraudulent electoral maneuvering.” The dates of the court hearings are not yet known.
Marie Depelteau-Paquette, General Director of Projet Montréal from 2015 to 2018 Facebook/Projet Montréal
Over time
“There was an accounting omission in the declaration of overtime worked by certain Projet Montréal employees during the election period,” explains the party’s communications director, Virginie Gagnon.
It adds that “this error was corrected as soon as it was discovered” and that appropriate procedures were initiated.
If Marie Depelteau-Paquette, who currently works for the Office de Participation Publique de Longueuil, is found guilty, she faces a fine of at least $5,000 and could lose the right to engage in partisan activities or for five years to run for office.