Photo: Graham Hughes The canadian Press
The VG noted that in October 2019, 6.1% of the territory of the agglomeration of Montréal was protected while the development plan seeks a 10% rate.
Montreal will need significant investments for the acquisition of the natural environment and reach its goal of 10 % of protected areas on the territory of the agglomeration. In its annual report released Monday, the auditor general, Michèle Galipeau, warns that the City does not provide sufficient funds to achieve this.
The VG noted that in October 2019, 6.1% of the territory of the agglomeration of Montréal was protected while the development plan seeks a 10% rate.
In the light of the acquisitions completed in 2019 with the purchase of a plot of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, at a cost of $ 5.1 million and the other one at Pierrefonds-Roxboro for $ 73 million, the VG is estimated that the City should have a budget of $ 260 million to acquire the 500 acres projected by 2030. In the short term, it lacks 27 million to make the purchases desired by the end of 2021.
The analysis performed by the VG has not been able to demonstrate that the City had budgets sufficient to maintain the ecological value. The audits environmental are not made at the required frequency and only one of the protected natural spaces has a plan for ecological management, says the AG in his report.
“Economically, the acquisition of natural environments necessary to achieve the target of 10 % could have an important impact considering that the investments required in the coming years, writes VG. In addition, all the boroughs that the Service of the large parks do not have budgets dedicated recurring to maintain the ecological of the natural environments protected. “
The VG strongly recommends that the City identify local parks that could meet the requirements to qualify as a natural environment in order to contribute to the achievement of the target of 10 % protected area. “Natural environments play several roles, ecological, social and economic. At a time of climate change, their preservation is important “, argued the VG.
Climate, computational, and human resources
In its annual report that makes more than 600 pages, the VG has also considered the Plan of adaptation to climate change. The balance sheet filed in October last does not allow to know with precision the degree of implementation of the measures promised, she notes however. As this program matures in the future, the City has undertaken the preparation of a ” Climate Plan “, but given the shortcomings observed in the previous plan, the VG believes that the City will have to ensure that the new measures being considered will lead to measurable results.
In terms of human resources, the next five years will be critical for the City as 25 % of employees will be eligible for retirement and that the number of voluntary departures and staff turnover remain significant. Montréal began in 2008 steps to prepare plans for manpower to fill the positions, but ” the effort ran out of steam “, found the VG has identified a number of gaps and recommends to the City to better supervise the management of the succession.
At the chapter of information technology, the VG noted that many City employees have use of tools and applications that are not managed by the Department of information Technology (STI) and which are unknown to him, a concept known under the name of” computer grey “.
The VG noted that the City has not put in place mechanisms of control, and that the STI has no process protection. The use of information technology as grey coincides with the postponement of several information technology projects to the City, she noted. “In the event of the improper use of the computer gray by the business units, this could lead to, among other things, risks of security breach impacting the confidentiality of sensitive data “, one can read in the report.
The report also focuses on the program Access Logis, and the construction of 12 000 social and affordable housing promised by the administration a Plant that could experience a downturn due, in particular, of the non-renewal of the agreement on affordable housing between the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ) and the canadian Society of habitation and housing corporation (CMHC).
The auditor general will present the main lines of its annual report to elect Tuesday on the occasion of a plenary session at the meeting of the city council.
