Another councillor quits Projet Montréal, calls Mayor Plante 'authoritarian'

Yet another city councillor is leaving Projet Montréal, and Christine Gosselin isn't going quietly, criticizing Mayor Valérie Plante and accusing her party of straying away from its grassroots identity.

In a lengthy Facebook post, Gosselin announced her plans to sit as an independent next year at the city and borough councils.

"I made this decision because I am at odds with the values and behaviours of Montreal's mayor, mainly when it comes to the management of human resources," said Gosselin, who represents the Vieux-Rosemont district. "I believe her management is retrograde and authoritarian."

According to Gosselin, a party that is suppose to galvanize different voices has become too centralized and discourages disagreement within its ranks.

Speaking with CBC, Gosselin, who is now the latest in a growing list of people who have left Projet Montréal, had a message for its remaining members.

"I say, Projet Montréal, get your act together, get in there, say something, save your party," she said. "Montrealers can see that we're losing our souls."

Harassment case key reason for speaking up

The Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie councillor points to the mayor's handling of the harassment saga in Côte-Des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-De-Grâce as a key reason for her departure. 

Gosselin left the city's executive committee in 2019. She claims to have been removed from her post without any explanation, an experience she says was made worse by Plante "asserting her feminist values on all public platforms."

In her Facebook post, she said she had stayed silent about the circumstances behind her departure from the executive committee, but last week's ruling by a Superior Court judge encouraged her to speak up.

The judge ruled that the Plante administration went beyond the scope of its powers when it tried to force Côte-des-Neiges-NDG mayor Sue Montgomery to fire her chief of staff, Annalisa Harris, following allegations that she had psychologically harassed the borough's director.

"What I was able to accept for myself, I cannot accept when it comes to a young woman at the beginning of her career," Gosselin wrote, in reference to Harris.

"Now, we know that the city acted in an illegal manner and that Sue Montgomery was not only justified to resist the pressures put on her to fire her chief of staff Annalisa Harris, but she was showing integrity by refusing to do so."

• Court sides with borough mayor Sue Montgomery, says Montreal mishandled harassment claims

Harris reacted to Gosselin's departure, calling it "an incredible act of solidarity."

Harris said she has sympathy for Plante as the city's first female mayor, but that she does believe there is a double standard for how women are treated within the party. 

"I think she has been criticized unfairly, but what's disappointing for me personally is I myself was a victim of harassment," Harris said. "But when I was accused of harassment, all of a sudden, I needed to be kicked out of the party."

With Gosselin's departure, Projet Montréal has 50 of the 103 city council members.

The list of elected officials who have left Projet Montréal in recent years includes: Montgomery, her fellow borough council member Christian Arsenault, former Plateau-Mont-Royal Mayor Luc Ferrrandez, Villeray—Saint-Michel—Parc-Extension Mayor Giuliana Fumagalli and Lachine borough councillor Julie-Pascale Provost.

"It is always sad when a respected colleague leaves us," said Geneviève Jutras, a spokesperson for the Plante. "With that being said, when it comes to her reasons, we don't have the same interpretation of her conclusions."

According to Jutras, changes within a political party are normal as municipal elections approach.

Gosselin believes the turnover is a sign of potential changes to come.

"We're on a course for losing the election, if we don't turn things around," she said.