Another planner behaving badly: Montreal

[JNA]

HEADLINE: Former Montreal city planner admits to $600,000 in kickbacks
http://www.therecord.com/news/canada...0-in-kickbacks

according to his own admission he rigged city contracts so they would go to companies he chose.
In exchange Surprenant accepted $600,000 in bribes over two decades

said that because of his actions the city ended up spending far more on contracts than was necessary.

Read more: http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-...#ixzz29mK0IZBt

[Cardinal]

Damn. All I ever got was once a developer, who owned the rental property behind mine, plowed the snow from the alley behind my garage when he saw me out there with a shovel. I seriously failed to abuse the power I had.

[ofos]

I didn't make that much money in the ten years that I was an active public planner. Should have taken kickbacks instead of a salary.

[Dan]

Thanks for posting this! Moved the thread from the FAC, and tweaked the title a bit.

I know there's a problem with corruption in government at all levels in Quebec, but I didn't think planners would be a part of it.

But he never wanted a condominium, a boat or a flashy car. He ultimately found other ways to spend the cash, saying he blew about one-half of it at the Montreal Casino.

“It was my way of putting this money back into the coffers of the state,” Surprenant said. “It was my way of paying a kind of tax.”

Tabernac!

It doesn't sound like he took bribes for favorable recommendations on zoning or development requests. The planners that seem to be busted for this kind of activity seem to deal more with contracts of various kinds.