'We need to keep watching': Meet Montreal's new inspector general
The city's new inspector general, Brigitte Bishop, was known for her damaging victories against the Hells Angels in the decades she spend fighting organized crime and corruption as a prosecutor.
Some of those victories resulted in the shutdown of some of the gang's bunkers, millions of dollars in fines and the seizure of property acquired through the proceeds of crime.
"The organized crime, they do it for the money. So, we have to get the money. If you get the money, then you hurt [them]," she said in an interview Tuesday on CBC Montreal's Daybreak.
"I think it's as simple as that."
Bishop took on the role in an interim capacity in July, and was officially given the job Monday. She says the way she fights corruption now is different, but she hopes to prevent the mismanagement of public funds all the same.
"My job in Montreal is to make sure of the integrity of all the contracts, so if there are people who are fraudulent or who are trying to launder money, of course we're going to be there," she said, adding her office must refer any potential criminal cases to police.
Bishop was a prosecutor with Quebec's Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) for 27 years. From 2011 to 2017, she also served as a legal consultant for Quebec provincial police's investigations.
She succeeds Denis Gallant as Montreal's inspector general. Over the summer, Gallant took a job as the president of the provincial authority overseeing public contracts, L'Autorité des marchés publics.
Mayor Valérie Plante said Bishop's "impeccable work" as interim inspector "confirms that she has all the assets to assume this role permanently."
Corruption 'under control' in Montreal, but still work to do
When Gallant was appointed to the post by the Coderre administration in 2014, he became the city's first-ever inspector general.
He "built the credibility" of Montreal's inspector general office, said Bishop, who worked as Gallant's second-in-command the year before he left.
"I have to maintain that credibility, but we can take a step ahead now. What I want to do is be in more of a preventive mode," she said.
"We're going to try to act before the contract is given."
Bishop says she believes corruption is "under control" in Montreal, but that doesn't mean it isn't present.
"[Criminals] always modify their way, their method," she said. "We need to keep watching, we need to be present. It's a never-ending job. Montreal needs a watchdog."
Bishop's term lasts five years and is non-renewable, according to the provincial law governing the position. The base salary is $177,452 a year, nearly $83,000 less than what Gallant received.
When asked about the disparity and whether there was an element of sexism to it on Radio-Canada's Gravel le matin, Bishop said her contract was still in the early stages and she didn't want to negotiate her salary through the media.
