Updates in Paris and Montreal

<b>Quote after Quote in Paris</b><br>
Earlier this month the French president's son supplied me with a <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/quote-day">quote of the day.</a> Now he has announced he will not pursue a job his father used to have,
and he has supplied me with another quote of the day:<br>
<ul>If the question you are asking me is,
‘Did you talk to the president
about [the government job]?’ No. Did I talk about that with my father? Yes.<br>
</ul>

In addition, the current holder of the job, who at 65 is being forced to retire
(presumably to give the president's 23-year-old son a chance), provided an apt
nepotism quotation from the seventeenth-century French playwright
Pierre Corneille:<br>

<ul>For souls nobly born, valor does not
await the passing of years. (<i>Aux âmes bien nées, la
valeur n'attend point le nombre des années</i>)<br>
</ul>

<b>Scandal After Scandal in Montreal</b><br>
Back in July I wrote a <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/800">blog
post</a> about some scandals in Montreal's government. Now, according to a <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/10/22/quebec-adq-corruptio…
article</a> yesterday, the opposition leader has admitted to having
taken $100,000 in cash from the same contractor who got a big contract
for three times what it would have been had it been bid out.<br>
<br>
In addition, according to <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/10/22/montreal-mafia-labon…
CBC article</a> yesterday, the opposition leader, part of the party in
power from 2005-2007, says that he tried to tell the mayor that
kickbacks were rampant in the city. <br>
<ul>“He leaned back in his chair and looked
at me candidly,” said Labonté. “[He] said "you see, Benoît,
in municipal politics… that's what it's all about.’” (<i>en politique municipale à
Montréal, c'est juste de ça</i>)</ul>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/elections-municipales/200910/22/01…
article</a> in today's <i>La Presse</i>, the mayor denies saying this.<br>
</p>
<p>Labonté also "described how [political] parties get around the law by
recycling corporate cash
donations to individuals who would return the money through cheques.
Labonté said the practice is used 'in all the parties, municipal
and provincial,' and is still ongoing at Vision Montreal [the party in
power]. 'Is there a mafia-like system that is running the city of
Montreal? The answer is yes,' said Labonté."<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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