Good Neighbors: A Q & A with Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre

Denis Coderre was elected the mayor of Montreal in November after serving in the Canadian Parliament since 1997. A prominent member of the Liberal Party on the federal level, Coderre prevailed in a multicandidate field to win the first Montreal mayoral race without an incumbent since 1986, in part on a platform of cleaning up municipal corruption by creating an inspector general’s office and opening the city’s data to the public to increase transparency.

Recently, Coderre visited New York City to learn about its Department of Investigations and NYC Digital as a potential model for Montreal, as well as to encourage American investment in his city. City & State’s Morgan Pehme and Matthew Hamilton spoke with Mayor Coderre about political corruption, the ramifications of the April 7 general election in Quebec, and the symbiotic relationship between New York and Montreal.

The following is an edited transcript. 

City & State: Quebec had a dramatic election recently with the Liberal Party securing a majority. What are the implications for Montreal and Quebec of the election?

Denis Coderre: What we have been witnessing is in the municipal world there has been a major shift in its positioning politically. Clearly the fact that the greater Montreal area represents over 50 percent of the population of Quebec, economically and based on population, and the fact that I’ve been working so closely with the mayor of Quebec City [points to this]. During that campaign, the municipal world became one voice. So what we are witnessing is kind of a shift from a provincial creature to an order of government of proximity. And it’s important because at the economic and political levels we believe that we define the world not by country or by continent but by cities now. And with the challenges that we are facing, it’s more economically wise, and at the social level it’s more efficient, to have the capacity to provide some tools to work with to the municipal world.

One reason [I’m in New York] is we want to have more investment. We are open for business. We have a U.S. administration focusing on bringing back more investment. At the same time, the relationship that I’m intent to do with is based on the institution [of government] itself. I’m going to [meet] with Mark Peters from the [New York City] Department of Investigation. In a former life, when I was with the government of Canada, I promoted the idea of the inspector general, which is clearly an American policy, not only based at the federal [level] but at the city [level]. I want to implement that in Montreal to have kind of a watchdog with everything regarding procurement with the municipality, [so] we have an independent person who will be there to protect Montrealers and Montreal.

C&S: What can New York and Quebec do to improve our working relationship and economic relationship? What are the strengths of our relationship and what are the barriers to us maximizing our connection as neighbors?

DC: Frankly, I believe we are natural allies. We can joke about sports because we are true friends. [But in terms of] economics, investment, working force, we can share a lot, we can work a lot together. Both of us in different ways are economic hubs for expansion. [We can work together] to address some of the issues—urban services, for example. I believe that we could have more relationships between cities through the institution [of government] so [municipalities] can provide more efficiency when we work together on common challenges.

New York is New York of course, but because of our strength in our own region, there’s issues with energy, there’s issues with collective transport, sanitation, there’s many, many issues that we can [help with]—more than just (on) the city (level) itself but on the region-wide (level). If we work in a more close way, because we are natural allies it’s going to be a win-win situation for both of us.

C&S: In New York we had the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, which was just disbanded. In Quebec, there’s UPAC and specifically in Montreal the Charbonneau Commission. How important is it to have agencies or panels to investigate wrongdoing, especially involving public officials, in politics today at both a city level and in our case state, and in your case provincial level?

DC: In some cases people will say there are different cycles in which you can achieve some sort of comfort zone. Some people will always try to benefit from the system in the wrong way. So the most important thing for us is to make sure we have benchmarks or a capacity to identify systems. It’s good to react to something and cure a problem, but at the same time it’s so important to prevent it. And that’s why I feel that the inspector general, as a whole, is a good practice. That person in our case is totally independent and is appointed by City Hall and will have all the power during the procurement process to go not only after the enterprise who won, but at the same time go anywhere at the bureaucratic level, political level or even look at all the competitors who try to get contracts. [The inspector general] will have the capacity to null or suspend the contract, and he can go wherever he wants to seek the intelligence and the information to do so.

Of course, we have to split the administrative perspective from the criminal one. That’s why we have our own forces against organization crime called EPIM and [we] merged it with the provincial one because we have the expertise on organized crime, for example. By having those two entities hooked together, it will have a better impact, and it will send a clear message that we define what’s administrative from what’s criminal and you don’t mingle with both of them.

The one we appointed as inspector general was the deputy prosecutor of the Charbonneau inquiry who already was doing that inquiry on corruption. It’s not [important] just to have the capacity to react immediately to a situation, but it’s also [important] to have someone in a department that will be able to identify if you have some trend that’s coming. That person is not only doing that inquiry based on some complaints that we will have, but on his own will have the capacity to go after a contract or an enterprise. So by covering all the angles, we will be able to be more efficient. And secondly, it’s not just what the degree of importance is, [but] how you manage the perception that we are truly doing something about [corruption]. To have that kind of capacity we will be able to focus and turn the page. And we believe in Montreal because of that we will turn the page and are focusing on some other issues now.

C&S: Do you feel our government in New York has a good handle on the importance of our cross-border relationship?

DC: I think that we have witnessed that sensitivity, and I know that you have the governors plus the premiers who are already gathering. I feel that what I am sending as a message now, because of my own experience, is that we’re adding value to the already good way of working together.

When I was a former minister of immigration after 9/11, Mr. [George] Pataki was the governor and we were discussing some of the issues. But it’s act local, think global. So it’s important to understand and respect the environment you are in and look through all the jurisdictions. But at the same time if we all can work together on some common ground because we are already good friends, I think that we will have a better impact overall because everything that we are doing, we can apply those best practices in other places.

It’s not just between Canada and the United States. It might have some other impacts in some other part of the world. So that’s why by sending a strong message that cities can be part of that solution, we will be even more efficient and have a better impact on the quality of life. And every time that we are able to fight those problems together and we can share those best practices, it’s a win-win situation for all of us.

C&S: Language issues are always a top issue in Quebec. Montreal is a bilingual city, and New York City has increasingly become bilingual with English and Spanish, though it has taken time and faced push back. How do you approach the French-English language issues that arise in Montreal?

DC: I think that every environment is kind of different. But when you are an international metropolis, the language issue is part of our charm. In Quebec we are a French metropolis, but clearly the flag of Montreal is Scottish, Irish, English and French. We have the multiplicity and that great diversity, which is a value. It’s like in Paris you can speak another language, but this is a French metropolis, a French city. So it is the same [in Montreal]. We believe we should always focus on what’s uniting us instead of what’s dividing us. I have been in politics for 30 years. I know the identity issues are always sensitive, but every environment is different. Being inclusive is a win-win situation for everybody.

C&S: You talked about collaborating on counter terrorism efforts. The NYPD has an officer embedded in the Montreal police force, is that correct?

DC: Yes.

I had a lot of experience [at] that level because when I was an officer of immigration. I had been appointed after 9/11 and everything we [dealt with] was security, the people’s movement at the border, and we had the opportunity to discuss several of those issues specifically in New York.

I think we already have that [counterterrorism] relationship. As I said, we need a balanced approach between openness and vigilance. We truly need vigilance, especially when you have big cities like New York or Montreal. This is the kind of discussion, the kind of ongoing relationship that is very key and important to make sure we can use the best practices. You always also have the sharing of information and intelligence. We’re focusing on the same issues to make this society a better world.

C&S: You talked about being here in New York solicit investment in Montreal from American companies. But at the same time there are so many Quebecois companies that have set up shop in New York and the United States. What should New York do to draw more investment from your side of the border into our economy?

DC: The fact that we have a lot of Quebecers and Montrealers who have their offices here, it sends a clear message that we can have a great win-win situation. We have the same working forces. We have the same joie de vivre as in New York. We have a lot of things that look alike. By working together, you can call that expansion. You can call that a hub. Montreal is also kind of a European city in a North American environment. We have so much in common that by working together, we can make more business and it will be good for both of us.

C&S: Are there any obvious challenges that you see to us having a symbiotic relationship?

DC: I don’t see any problem. When you are true friends, if there are some issues, you deal with them on the spot. We are like New York [in that] design is important, innovation, high-tech [are important], [and we want to] diversify the economic approach to our role internationally. We have 63 international organizations. You have the United Nations and the world is here. That kind of 1-2 punch can be really efficient for the benefit of our citizens. But at the same time it can create a political force and economic force [that leads to] both of us working together.