Montreal Is Looking for their New Mayor on Workopolis

Gérald Tremblay doing stand-up comedy at an open mic night. via.

Not to be outdone by Toronto’s drunken King, the mayoral politics in Montreal have been marred with a string of alleged mafia corruption that inevitably led their former mayor, Gérald Tremblay, to peace out and quit his job last November. In late April, Gérald finally appeared in front of an alien abduction sounding “corruption probe” and insisted that—despite all of the bribing and “illegal financing” going on around him—he was more or less oblivious to it all.

According to Global News, Gérald “made sure to mention that he was not only unaware of wrongdoing, but that he also did not intentionally keep himself in the dark.” Impressive rhetorical maneuvering on Gérald’s part, even if it makes him sound like he has the political aptitude of a bag of old potatoes.

In the time since Gérald quit his job, the city of Montreal appointed a new interim mayor: Michael Applebaum. Things were pretty chill for Mike at first, until it was discovered that he skipped out on a necessary building permit for some renovations he put into a duplex over a decade ago. Michael took home $26k off the resale of the illegally renovated home, and now some politicians say Michael “no longer has the moral authority to sit as mayor.”

Now what? Montreal has had to deal with a mayor who quit on them after the mafia heat got too heavy, and now they’ve got a temporary guy who has a complete and utter disregard for the sacred code of home renovations. Clearly there is only one option left: Workopolis.

Yes, if you’ve ever found yourself between jobs, tired of Craigslist, too lazy to actually go out and hand out resumes, and you don’t actually know anyone in the working world who might be able to get you a leg up—you have probably lurked Workopolis for available data entry positions. This is also the forum where, apparently, Montreal is looking for their new mayor.

According to the posting, the city is looking for someone with strong moral fortitude, an allergy to lying, and an addiction to making shit happen. The number one challenge issued in this post—which has also been mirrored on Montreal’s Board of Trade, so you know it’s real—is to “rebuild trust between citizens and city hall.” Clearly, the Montreal mayoral bat signal is being dragged out of the closet for this political predicament.

The winner of Montreal’s Mayoral Idol will not only have to encourage the populace of Montreal to engage in figurative trust falls with them, they also need to have a “spotless past” and possess “transparent” governing policies. That means if you have ties to the mafia, which you deny in such a way that does not effectively prove your innocence—or if you have added a two-story deck to your house with a matching in-ground pool that violates most local building codes, you should not apply.

While the requirements listed in this online posting could theoretically attract the type of person with a strong enough moral compass to lead Montreal into a future where potholes are not flipping over cars at random, the question is: What kind of PR message is the city sending with such a public cry for help?

You would hope that any worthy candidate in the city of Montreal, who has enough political experience and a reputation strong enough to build a successful campaign, would already be aware of this upcoming job opportunity. But perhaps the city really is just tired of the poisoned political well they’ve had to deal with, and are aiming to reach a wider audience through the magic of a single online job posting.

This wonky internet campaign is either an earnest attempt to bring fresh blood into Montreal’s controversial mayoral battle arena—or it’s just a weirdly provocative PR move meant to say “Hey, we know we’re fucked, but do you wanna give it a shot yourself?” My attempt to reach the Board of Trade got me into a bureaucratic entanglement of voicemail firewalls that I was not able to leap across in time to get this post up—so I’m not sure how, exactly, they intend to explain this all—but one thing is certain. If the new mayor of Montreal is found through a Workopolis posting, people are probably going to laugh.

Follow Patrick on Twitter: @patrickmcguire

Previously:

Quebec's Mafia Corruption Is All Out in the Open

Montreal Police Are Still Kettling Protestors

Quebec's Student Protests Deserve a Closer Look