Montreal campaign hits final stretch

Vision Montreal Leader Louise Harel is demanding the mayor come clean about the state of the citys finances, as an election campaign that has been mired with scandal and accusations hit its final stretch Friday.

Harel made the demand following reports in La Presse that Grald Tremblays administration is secretly planning a 16 per cent tax increase over the next four years including a 5.2 per cent hike in residential taxes for 2010.

The plan is the result of a $200-million budgetary shortfall and to prepare for coming financial difficulties, the newspaper said.

Speaking at her partys campaign headquarters, Harel said she would stand by her plan to freeze municipal taxes for 2010 but that the mayor owes it to Montrealers to clarify the citys financial situation.

She said a vote for Tremblay is a "total jump into the unknown."

Harel said voting for Projet Montreal would also be a mistake, calling Richard Bergerons party a "one-man show."

"The only personality he has presented isnt even a candidate," said Harel, referring to the former head of the inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal John Gomery whohas served as the honourary chair of Projet Montreals fundraising campaign.

Tremblay acknowledged his party is ready to increase taxes,but dismissed the newspaper report, saying it was based on an internal documentand was one of many hypothetical scenarios prepared by civil servants.

He said the city is facing a difficult financial situation acknowledging his party has said it would increase taxes by at least the rate of inflation.

"The other possibility is Vision Montreal and Madame Harel," Tremblay said.

"[They] will freeze taxes and freeze tariffs at the [Montreal Tranist Corporation] even though it already has a $40-million deficit. How do we finance that? And Madame Harel says she would increase spending by $300 million."

Tremblay says Projet Montreal doesnt offer a better alternative.

"The party says it will increase taxes with inflation and then increase spending by $600 million I think that is total ignorance," Tremblay said.

Dead heat

Meanwhile, a new poll suggests that two days ahead of Sundays vote, all three main candidates are in a dead heat.

The Angus Reid poll published in La Presse puts Harel at 34 per cent, versus 32 per cent for Bergeron and Tremblay at 30 per cent.

But with the poll's margin of error considered accurate to within 3.46 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, and 10 per cent of voters still undecided the suspense remains.

And, the race has clearly put off a large number of voters altogether 11 per cent of the 804 respondents said they would not vote.

On its cover this week, Macleans magazine summed up the sentiment of some voters: "Montreal is a corrupt, crumbling, mob-ridden disgrace."

Montreal's most widely read broadsheet newspaper responded this week with an editorial endorsement of its own preferred candidate: nobody.

Under the headline "Leader Wanted," Montreal La Presse wrote that the campaign was one of the most depressing and revealing in recent history.

"Faced with the weaknesses demonstrated by each of the mayoral candidates, La Presse is not able to support one or the other," wrote Andre Pratte, the newspaper's lead editorial writer.

"Montrealers will have to choose according to their conscience."

The Montreal Gazette, meanwhile, suggested voters hold their noses and vote for Tremblay, "the least distressing candidate in an unprepossessing field."

Wrapping up his campaign, Bergeron said he was not surprised by the poll results placing him second in the race for mayor.

"This is our fifth election in Montreal [including byelections], Bergeron said. "We knew that the dynamic of the campaign [would] give us the opportunity to speak to the people to explain who we are."

Bergeron announced that he had already recruited some big names to support him.

He says former Montreal police chief Jacques Duchesneau would oversee the creation of a Montreal police anti-corruption squad.

He said Gomery would continue to serve as an adviser on ethical issues.

Also, Bergeron said he has received the backing of Charles Taylor, the former co-chair of the Bouchard-Taylor commission on the issue of reasonable accommodations.

Bergeron dismissed Harels claim he was a "one-man show."

"She can say anything she wants people will have to judge," Bergeron said.

Legitimate volunteers

Harel also tried to distance herself from another report tarnishing the image of the citys political class.

In an interview with CBC News, Harel said she is "absolutely sure" none of her party's volunteers are being paid on the side by their employers, in an attempt to influence municipal politics.

The Vision Montreal leaderwas responding to allegations published in Friday's edition of the Journal de Montral newspaper.

Unnamed sources in the article contend it's routine for the city's leading engineering firms to give employees paid time off to work on electoral campaigns of parties in which they hope to exert influence.

Harel told CBC News she's certain it's not happening within her volunteer ranks, because "the first thing [I did] as I became leader was to introduce very strong and strict rules" for people working on her campaign.

She stressed that volunteers are being screened before they join her team.

Harel added that she has also published the names of all her campaign contributors, and their donations, to underscore her transparency.

Controversial video

Bergeron was forced to defend controversial comments made during a Radio-Canada interview a decade ago.

The comments made during an interview with now-Governor General Michalle Jean were posted on YouTube on Thursday.

In the interview about the evils of cars, Bergeron described how when driving one day in downtown Montreal he "nearly hit" a pedestrian "because he wanted toteach him a lesson."

Bergeron described women as "exemplary drivers to the point that they are not used to handling this potential weapon in dangerous situations."

The Projet Montreal leader said the comments were "extracts from a long interview taken out of context."

Bergeron accused Vision Montreal of having posted the interview on the internet only days before the election.

"It is cheap politics," Bergeron said.