‘I’ve been completely transparent all along’
By Robert Frank
www.thesuburban.com
Laval’s Parti au service du citoyen has fended off a personal attack on its candidate for mayor, Robert Bordeleau.
On Aug. 9, opposing mayoral candidate Marc Demers and David de Cotis, the Mouvement lavallois party’s founder and St. Bruno district candidate, issued a statement calling Bordeleau “disqualified for a position where he would be called upon to manage public funds.”
The accusation stemmed from a court case to recover sales tax his import-export company, RBS International, owes Revenue Quebec.
“It’s all old news,” Bordeleau told The Suburban in an interview.
He said that the case stems from an agreement his company, RBS International, made in 2011 with another firm, Groupe Nissi. According to Bordeleau, after the business deal went sour later that year, RBS sued Nissi for $3.5 million to recover its alleged losses.
In the meantime, he explained, RBS was left holding the bag for the sales tax that it owed on the transaction.
Bordelau added that he was the one who suggested that Revenue Quebec take RBS to court to recover the tax.
“That way they would become primary creditors,” he emphasized. “That’s why Revenue Quebec accepted the arrangement. I’ve been completely transparent all along.”
Bordelau also criticized news outlets which reported he owed the taxman $120,000.
“We have already paid $75,000 of that amount,” he countered, adding that some media reports also parroted initial figures in the court filing, which turned out to be incorrect.
“The bottom line is that I have continued to meet citizens in Laval, and [these accusations] haven’t changed their mind at all,” Bordeleau affirmed.
“[My political opponents] wanted my party members to abandon me, but they didn’t flee,” he smiled. “Instead, all of the Parti au service du citoyen candidates signed a letter supporting their leader and the party, because I have nothing to hide. All my candidates were aware of the fact that my company had been defrauded, long before they signed on.”
Mouvement lavallois, in contrast, has been stung by a string of recent setbacks. Its leader, Marc Demers, continues to face accusations that he has not resided in Laval long enough to be eligible to run in time for the Nov. 3 election.
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