{"id":617405,"date":"2026-04-20T21:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/617405\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T21:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:56:12","slug":"montreal-suspends-city-councillor-for-failing-to-submit-financial-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/617405\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal suspends city councillor for failing to submit financial report"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city of Montreal has suspended a St-L\u00e9onard city councillor for failing to submit a financial report on time.<\/p>\n

According to a city spokesperson, city councillor Mauro Barone\u2019s official representative failed to file the party\u2019s annual financial report by the April 1 deadline. Barone is the sole elected official representing \u00c9quipe St-L\u00e9onard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate, and it\u2019s, I have to say, somewhat embarrassing,\u201d Barone said in an interview.<\/p>\n

Barone was notified by the city on April 11 that his rights are suspended to attend city council meetings, borough council meetings, and any committee events. The suspension will be lifted once the financial report is submitted, said city spokesperson Hugo Bourgoin in an email statement.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Barone was meant to hold public office hours where citizens could drop in and talk to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could not attend it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also had to miss an event with the Haitian community on Sunday, and several meetings at City Hall on Monday.<\/p>\n

Barone said his administrative agents completed the report before the deadline, but his team was having trouble setting up a meeting with an auditor. He said an auditor was automatically required by the city because his campaign expenditures exceeded $5,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur agent had some health issues, and he was sort of in and out of the hospital,\u201d Barone explained.<\/p>\n

The party said Monday afternoon a new auditor will be in place Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He added he doesn\u2019t \u201cblame anybody\u201d for the administrative error and understands city staff \u201chave to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m paying that price. Which is fine. I guess it\u2019ll be a little bit of a wake-up call for the others in the party,\u201d he said. \u201cI just bear it and grin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Profile<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tLeora Schertzer is a reporter at the Montreal Gazette who thrives on the chase. Whether it\u2019s producing a documentary about sewage or investigating a Nazi gold scandal, it\u2019s the novelty and adrenaline that keep her in this challenging industry. Send her tips at lschertzer@postmedia.com.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city of Montreal has suspended a St-L\u00e9onard city councillor for failing to submit a financial report on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":{"0":"post-617405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-montreal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}