Montreal councillor accused of being drunk at work as city pushes back last call

An ongoing rivalry between Montreal and Toronto, highlighted most recently by the Quebec city’s decision to introduce later last calls at downtown bars, may have been elevated this week after a Montreal councillor was questioned about allegations he is routinely inebriated during city council meetings.

The Montreal Gazette reports that Côte-des-Neiges―Notre-Dame-de-Grâce councillor Jeremy Searle was asked by reporters on Tuesday about whether he was drunk at the time, and questioned about the distinct smell of alcohol wafting from his person.

According to the newspaper, Searle denied being drunk by asking the reporter, "Are you?"

Searle has courted controversy recently by suggesting during a council session that Quebec separatists were bugs that needed to be exterminated and later insulting Mayor Denis Coderre when he asked him to apologize. That led to the threat of censure from city council and sparked a series of questions about whether Searle had been drinking before the evening council meeting.

There are two aspects of this story that reek of Schadenfreude. First, Montreal council recently made major headlines with its decision to run a trial that would allow some bars to sell alcohol until 5:30 a.m. during the summer. Toronto’s last call is currently 2 a.m., three-and-a-half hours earlier.

The move was heralded as an indication of the city's modern sensibilities and contemporary tastes. Now, perhaps it's more of an indication of the need of an intervention.

Second, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre took a direct shot at Toronto during the announcement, declaring that, "There is a nightlife in Montreal. The only reason there is (a nightlife) in Toronto is because half a million Montrealers moved there." The jab received rebuke from Toronto councillors; Denzil Minnan-Wong for instance suggested Coderre "may have had one too many."

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Now, however, the tides have turned and it is Montreal that appears to be following Toronto's lead. Searle seems to have channeled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford with his recent spate of controversies. It should be noted that despite all of Ford's foibles he has not been accused of being drunk during a city council meeting, though a former aide told police Ford was drunk at city hall between 15 and 20 times over the course of a year.

Still, Searle's brand of disaster management has the Ford stamp all over it. Accused of being drunk at work, Searle suggested the accuser was the one who was drunk. This is a tactic frequently used by Ford, most recently on St. Patrick's Day, when a CTV News reporter asked him about being drunk outside city hall the night before.

Further, when pressed on whether he had issues with alcohol, Searle inexplicably claimed he was a "health nut" and would be at the YMCA swimming if he wasn't at work.

Again, a Fordism. Toronto's mayor has been dodging questions about substance abuse issues by mentioning his exercise regime since before it was trendy to do so.

And then there are the issues that got Searle into trouble in the first place – referring to separatists as bugs that needed to be exterminated, refusing to apologize (though he later did, under protest) and accusing Coderre of having a “problem with his brain.”

Personal insults, sweeping bouts of offensive name-calling, refusing to apologize for obvious inappropriateness? Let's just say it's all quite de rigueur in Toronto.

So, sure. Montreal bars may have later closing times that their Toronto counterparts, but the Big Smoke has the original city hall bad boy. Montreal will have to do better than a councillor accused of being drunk at work to beat us on that count.

And the rivalry is tied at 1-1.

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