A Western Quebec mayor and warden has resigned after Quebec’s municipal commission sought to bar him from office over “intimate remarks” he allegedly made to municipal employees.
Benoit Lauzon announced on Monday that he was vacating his roles as the mayor of Thurso and warden of the regional municipality of the MRC of Papineau.
“I am officially retiring,” he wrote on Facebook.
His announcement follows Quebec’s municipal commission (CMQ) applying to the Superior Court of Quebec on April 23 seeking to disqualify Lauzon from holding municipal office for five years.
‘Intimate remarks’
The CMQ alleged Lauzon had abused his position of authority over municipal staff by making “intimate remarks” over the Messenger app and in text messages to at least seven employees.
Lauzon did not contest the application.
“After discussing the alleged breach of the code of ethics for elected officials with the municipal commission, I told them there was no need to waste time debating the alleged misconduct or reducing the period of disqualification, given my decision to retire without plans to return,” he posted on Facebook, writing in French.
The CMQ application did not provide details on the remarks in question but found that Lauzon’s conduct “seriously depart[ed] from the standard that should be expected of a person serving as warden of an MRC and mayor of a municipality.”
His conduct had undermined his municipal office and public trust in municipal institutions, the CMQ wrote.
“Sometimes during discussions, we say things, we use words, we put emojis in messages without considering their impact but in ways which can affect people,” Lauzon wrote in his Facebook post. “I am sorry for that.”
He continued: “This is why I am leaving before the end of my term, in order to ensure that this issue does not become a distraction and so that the work of elected officials and staff in the town and MRC continues to live up to their standards of professionalism and commitment to the well-being of the community.”
Lauzon did not respond to requests for comment from Radio-Canada.
Lauzon had served as the mayor of Thurso since 2013 and warden of the MRC of Papineau since 2017. He also chairs the Outaouais warden’s conference.
Thurso is a town of about 3,000 residents located on the Ottawa River about 40 kilometres northeast of Ottawa.
In January, Lauzon announced he would not seek re-election as mayor of Thurso, saying that the MRC of Papineau had introduced new rules preventing him from serving as mayor and warden concurrently.
On Friday, the MRC of Papineau announced that Danie Tassé, mayor of Montpellier, Que., would assume the role of deputy warden following the departure of Lauzon.
“This transition will have no impact on the organization’s operations,” it said in a statement in French, adding that it would not comment further on Lauzon’s departure.
