There was more drama in the race to become mayor of Montreal Monday evening, as the main candidates faced off in the last televised debate before election day.
The debate came after a weekend of political bombshells that led Vision Montreal mayoral candidate Louise Harel to force her former right-hand man, Benoit Labonte, out of the party.
Mayor Gerald Tremblay suggested Harel had not been vigilant enough while working with Labonte.
"Did she ask Labonte any questions?" Tremblay asked.
Series of allegations
Labonte stepped down as leader of the opposition and Harel's lieutenant after allegations surfaced last Friday that he had accepted $100,000 from Tony Accurso, the businessman whose firm is linked to the water meter controversy at city hall.
It is alleged that Labonte accepted the money to fund his Vision Montreal leadership race in the spring of 2008.
By Monday, the day after Harel dismissed him from the party entirely, the number of allegations had grown and suggested that Labonte had accepted more than $200,000 from nine construction companies.
During the debate, Project Montreal leader Richard Bergeron said he had warned Harel about Labonte last spring.
"When you say you want to clean up city hall, you don't associate with Benoit Labonte," Bergeron said.
"If she had done her homework she wouldn't be in the situation she was in yesterday and today," he added.
Leaked information?
Throughout the exchange, Harel insisted Tremblay's office leaked Labonte's agenda to the media.
Visibly shaken, she could not answer questions about the alleged leaked information in English.
"I would like to answer in French if possible," she told reporters.
Tremblay strongly denied that anyone close to him had anything to do with the reports.
"I did answer the question, the answer is no," he said.
