CUPE welcomes the tighter rules for the awarding of contracts by the City of Montreal. The new procedure immediately produced savings of around 35 per cent, we learned from a CBC report.
“This is the message that we have been drumming home for months,” said CUPE-Quebec president, Lucie Levasseur. “When the evaluation is carried out by municipal employees and not by consultants or private companies, it costs less and the taxpayers get their money’s worth. This news is only the latest example of that. A bit more rigour and objectivity in the evaluation of contracts produces results!” The City’s Auditor General came to the same conclusion in his most recent report.
According to CUPE, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Laurent Lessard, should establish more stringent rules for all municipalities in Quebec. “If certain measures work in Montreal, we could export them elsewhere. It is time to put our faith in the expertise of our white-collar and blue-collar workers across the province. Everyone will benefit, with better public services at lower costs,” added Michel Bibeault, CUPE-Quebec regional director.
The union stressed the fact that it had made a series of proposals to that effect last spring in parliamentary committee.”It is time to bring home the regular duties of a municipality. The Quebec government has a responsibility here. It’s a question of good governance and proper management of public funds,” concluded Bibeault.