Costco invoices: examines consultant costs in Quebec Laval

A Laval municipal councilor who used public funds to pay for groceries at Costco, a sofa bed and a luxury $1,000 Apple watch is now the target of an investigation by the Commission Municipal du Quebec (CMQ).

Municipal Affairs Minister Andre Laforest made the announcement Wednesday morning, hours after revelations from our Bureau of Investigation regarding Paolo Galati's expenses. At the end of the morning, CMQ confirmed to our Investigations Office that it had indeed opened an investigation on its own initiative, but would not comment further.

Minister Laforest also responded by describing the municipal councillor's expenses as “unacceptable”.

“This is citizens' money, this is unacceptable,” the minister responded. All elected officials are accountable, and the advisor has to respond.

The main party responded in the middle of the day and reminded the city treasurer that he can refuse to reimburse an expenditure he deems “inappropriate”.

“I want my expenses reviewed and approved by the city's financial services. All expenses deemed unjustified will be reimbursed without delay,” he announced.

The mayor asks for a refund

In an interview with Mario Dumont on LCN Wednesday morning, the Mayor of Laval, Stéphane Boyer, expected Polo Galati to repay the taxpayers.

“To me it is a lack of judgment on the part of the opposition. As elected officials, yes we have budgets to assist us in our duties. The height of the sums, the luxury of the goods and the fact that we can seriously question whether they really serve the functions of an adviser are open to criticism here,” he responded.

“All I ask the councilor is to pay back this money. This is citizens' money. If Mr. Galati does not repay, CMQ may deduct a portion of his salary.

Costco and Apple

Mr. Galati used money from the Research and Assistance Fund for elected officials to buy food and other products such as cereal, Nutella, peanut butter, honey, chewing gum, ibuprofen, cauliflower soup, Aveeno moisturizing cream or hemp seeds.

The consultant confirmed that these products were used for civic meetings and conferences, by teams and individually, in his office at home.

This office is also good. In fact, Laval residents reimbursed the consultant for purchasing a convertible sofa bed with memory foam for $734 and a coffee machine for $260. They even pay for his refills of SodaStream.

We also found invoices for acoustic panels, microphone arms and stands, a $400 speaker, a $260 teleprompter, a ring light, and a tripod. He explains that his office has a lot of reverberation and that for meetings in teams, the sound is “better” with acoustic panels.

He also bought several Apple products: an iPhone, an iPad Pro tablet with keyboard, two Apple Pencils, a 27-inch iMac desktop computer and a MacBook Pro laptop for more than $3,400 each and two pairs of AirPods wireless headphones for an additional $329 to treat yourself to an Apple Watch at $1049.

An “accountable” advisor

The city of Laval also responded Wednesday morning and promised “good management of public funds.” [est] a priority” and it strictly applies its provisions on reimbursement of research and support costs. According to this provision, an elected official “must act in the best interest of citizens in the management of public funds,” she recalled.

She adds that each reimbursement request is analyzed and the city may request additional justification from elected officials. “The consultant is responsible for the supporting documents and explanations attached to each reimbursement request,” emphasized Philippe Dery, communications manager for the municipality.

– In collaboration with Marc-Andre Gagnon and Jean-Louis Fortin