𝗨𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗶, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗿𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗼𝗿𝘃𝗮𝗹,

This article exposes the lack of transparency and disrespect of our democratic principles by the past Doret administration.

When I asked the mayor during the city council meeting of May 11th, 2026, what he plans to do to ensure that our democratic principles will be respected in the future and that a similar audit will not appear again, the mayor tried to minimize and downplay the content and consequences of the audit.

This is a clear indication that Doret has absolutely no intention, during his second term as mayor, to acknowledge that he is the servant of the citizens of Dorval and not their master.

This is unacceptable.

Furthermore, a new bylaw “Concerning the internal governance of the Council of City of Dorval” (RCM-116) is now being advanced that would limit councilors to a three-minute cap on debate for any given item. Council meetings are not a rubber-stamping exercise. They are where complex municipal files are picked apart, questions are put on the public record, and decisions are challenged before they become final. A three-minute cap is the quiet end of deliberation.

Lastly, the same bylaw imposes a thirty-minute cap, with a possible thirty-minute extension only if council consents, on the entire citizen question period, while carrying forward the rule that each citizen may ask only one question per meeting. That hour is, for many of you, the only formal space where you can look your elected officials in the eye and hold them accountable on the record. Capping it does not make council more accessible. It makes it quieter.

I urge the citizens of Dorval to speak up on the current state of affairs involving Doret and the councilors of Action Dorval.

Thank you,

𝗨𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗶

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The Article: DORVAL UNDER THE MICROSCOPE:

 A Governance Audit Managed in the Dark

The Commission municipale du Québec found significant gaps in Dorval's ethics and governance — but the city's handling of the audit may be the bigger story.

April 2026

When the Commission municipale du Québec (CMQ) announced in June 2025 that the City of Dorval would be subject to a performance audit of its ethics code and governance practices, the news was publicly available province-wide. What it was not, apparently, was shared with Dorval's own citizens — or meaningfully communicated to its elected councillors.

The audit, which examined the city's governance practices, ethics frameworks, transparency mechanisms, and the quality of collaboration between council and administration, returned a troubling set of conclusions. But the manner in which City Hall managed the process — from announcement to corrective plan — raises equally serious questions about the city's commitment to the very values under examination.

What the CMQ Was Looking For

The CMQ's performance audit framework uses a four-level rating system: green (satisfactory), yellow (elements to improve), red (significant deficiencies), and a fourth category where the CMQ was unable to draw conclusions due to insufficient verifiable information. Dorval received several yellow ratings and, notably, a number of "impossible to conclude" assessments — meaning the commission could not verify whether certain governance requirements were being met at all.

The areas under scrutiny were not peripheral bureaucratic concerns. The CMQ examined whether elected officials were meaningfully participating in governance decisions, whether mixed workshops between councillors and administration were taking place, whether appropriate communication tools were being used, and whether the city's overall approach to governance was collaborative rather than top-down. These are foundational questions about how a municipality functions as a democratic institution.

A Timeline of Silence

The sequence of events surrounding the audit reveals a consistent pattern of restricted information flow:

June 2025 — Public Announcement, Private Silence

The CMQ publicly named Dorval as one of the municipalities selected for audit. This information was accessible to anyone following provincial governance matters. Yet there is no evidence of any proactive notice to Dorval's citizens, and no indication that councillors were meaningfully informed or invited to engage with the process at its outset. Critically, this occurred during an election period — meaning voters went to the polls without knowing their city was under a provincial governance review.

Summer–Fall 2025 — Audit Underway, Citizens Unaware

As the CMQ conducted its review through the summer and fall, there was no public discussion of the audit's existence, no candidate debate on the governance questions it raised, and no proactive disclosure to residents. The audit process unfolded in a political vacuum created by the very administration being examined.

December 17, 2025 — Report Received, Still Not Shared

The CMQ delivered its final report to the Mayor and members of council in mid-December. Despite being addressed to elected officials, the report was not broadly circulated to the public, and councillors were not meaningfully mobilized to respond to its findings before year-end.

January 19, 2026 — Tabled at Council, Minimally Explained

The report was formally tabled at a council meeting in January, but without substantive explanation or a transparent corrective roadmap debated openly with elected representatives. For most councillors, this appears to have been their first real encounter with the document's contents.

Before March 19, 2026 — Corrective Plan Drafted Without Council Input

The CMQ required the municipality to submit an improvement plan within a set timeframe. That plan was prepared centrally by the administration, with no known citizen consultation and limited councillor involvement. The corrective commitments — responding to findings about collaborative governance — were made through a closed internal process.

March 12, 2026 — Councillors Finally Briefed, Days Before the Deadline

A clerk's email sent just days before the CMQ submission deadline transmitted the report and a PowerPoint summary to councillors. By that point, the substantive work of formulating the corrective plan was already complete. Council was informed after the fact, not consulted throughout.

The Central Contradiction

The CMQ audit explicitly called for greater participation by elected officials, mixed deliberative workshops, improved communication tools, and a more collaborative approach to municipal governance. In other words, the remedy prescribed was openness.

Dorval's response was the opposite: the corrective plan was drafted centrally, communication was delayed and controlled, councillors were sidelined from the reform process, and citizens remained uninformed throughout. A governance audit calling for transparency was managed through opacity.

This is not a technical administrative failure. It is a pattern. Information known internally was not shared externally. Public accountability was deferred at every stage. The administration controlled both the timing and the narrative — precisely the kind of governance culture the CMQ audit was designed to identify and correct.

What This Means for Citizens

Democratic governance depends on citizens being able to participate in decisions that affect their communities. That participation requires information. When a city learns it is under a provincial ethics audit — an audit specifically examining whether elected officials are meaningfully included in governance — and chooses to manage that information internally, it compounds the very problem being investigated.

Dorval's residents deserve to know not only what the CMQ found, but how the city responded to those findings. The audit report is public. The action plan should be subject to public debate. And elected councillors — not just the Mayor and City Manager — should be active participants in crafting the reforms their own governance requires.

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The CMQ audit report for the City of Dorval is publicly available at ville.dorval.qc.ca. The Commission municipale du Québec's full reports page can be consulted at cmq.gouv.qc.ca.

https://www.ville.dorval.qc.ca/storage/app/media/la-cite/administration-et-finances/reglements-municipaux/reglements-en-vigueur/20251218_audit_code-ethique-et-deontologie.pdf