Pointe Claire is demanding a retraction and explanations from various Montreal media that ran what the city qualified as "erroneous reports" of Mayor Bill McMurchie's expenses.
"Pointe Claire councillors and I have a duty to spend public funds seriously," McMurchie stated. "The original media coverage relating to my expenses was inaccurate and many of the news stories were misleading in the extreme," he added.
A story ran in Montreal French daily La Presse on July 15. It did not focus solely on Pointe Claire, rather reporting on the expense habits of several demerged municipality mayors on the island. According to McMurchie, the story implied he charged up to $23,600 for meals to his municipal expense account in 2007, and this lead was taken up by several other media afterward.
When contacted by The Chronicle, McMurchie confirmed letters by city lawyers that ask for a retraction of his expense accounts have so far been received by La Presse and The Gazette.
Other media that ran the story include CTV and CJAD.
"We will not allow Pointe Claire's excellent reputation to be maligned by inaccurate reporting," he said.
Pointe Claire mayor seeks explanations from Montreal media
Pointe Claire mayor seeks explanations from Montreal media
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Published on
July 29, 2008
- Published on February 6, 2010
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Raffy Boudjikanian
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Comments
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- John Thullner
- - February 8, 2010 at 11:15:05
Sirs: My opinion, after analyzing the numbers on the City of Pointe-Claire web site, is that the reports widely circulated by the media about the supposed extravagances of our Mayor were very poorly researched, exaggerated and inaccurate. To publish news which tarnishes a reputation that is as enviable as Mr. McMurhie's is, in my view, totally irresponsible and should be publicly retracted with appropriate apologies. Without being presumptuous I think I speak for a majority of the citizens of Pointe-Claire when I say that we haven't lost any respect for our Mayor and we will continue to support him in any future political activities that he may choose to pursue. J.T.
