Dossier · Evidence review
Investigators found only cheques linking Waltham’s DG’s spouse to her job. Another town hired him.
Quebec’s municipal watchdog could not substantiate a job that paid for almost a decade. Portage-du-Fort has now hired the former Waltham DG to manage its office.
What you can do now
Use these official or clearly identified links to ask questions, request action, or use the process yourself.
- ContactAsk Waltham for a public accounting ↗
Ask council to publish the observer’s outcome, the third-party records review, the amount paid under the disputed arrangements and any recovery decision.
Municipality of Waltham · Link checked September 10, 2026 - Public meetingPut the questions on the public record ↗
Attend a council meeting and ask for dated evidence that recommendations 2–6 were completed. Meetings are public and the municipality posts the schedule.
Municipality of Waltham · Link checked September 10, 2026 - Public recordsRequest the missing follow-through ↗
Request the observer correspondence, third-party analysis, payroll totals, invoices and resolutions. Be precise; exemptions and reproduction fees may apply.
Municipality of Waltham · Link checked September 10, 2026 - ContactAsk Portage-du-Fort about due diligence ↗
Ask council to publish Roy’s contracts, invoices, approved hours, safeguards and the records it reviewed before giving him responsibility for the office.
Municipality of Portage-du-Fort · Link checked September 10, 2026 - Public recordsRead the Portage votes yourself ↗
Review resolutions 079-2026 and S-148-2026. They record the hourly rate, the two engagements and the councillors who opposed them.
Municipality of Portage-du-Fort · Link checked September 10, 2026 - OversightSend new evidence to the municipal watchdog ↗
Use the secure disclosure process only for evidence of possible current wrongdoing—not simply disagreement with a lawful council decision.
Commission municipale du Québec · Link checked September 10, 2026
Be specific and respectful. A listed petition or campaign is a reader resource, not an endorsement by UR NOT MAD ENOUGH.
Nearly ten years of municipal salary. One documentary trace: cheques issued in the spouse’s name.
That is not our inference. It is what Quebec’s municipal watchdog found after examining the Municipality of Waltham.
The Commission municipale du Québec report says the former director general’s spouse was paid for almost a decade and earned more than some longer-serving employees. Investigators found no resolution, contract, employee file, evaluation, writing, action or ordinary contact with a resident or elected official that substantiated municipal work.
The couple maintained that the job was real. They said she worked entirely from home, sorting, stamping and preparing municipal mail. The Commission concluded the evidence did not support that she was genuinely employed by Waltham.
Two years later, this is no longer only a history of one small municipality. On August 30, 2026, neighbouring Portage-du-Fort hired Fernand Roy at $65 an hour as a consultant to manage its municipal office until it found a new director general or for a maximum of 30 days. Two councillors voted against the resolution.
The CMQ report does not name the former Waltham director general. Waltham’s own February 2024 minutes identify Roy in that role and replace him as signing authority when a new director general was appointed. Local reporting has consistently identified him, and Portage’s current resolution names him.
What the Commission actually decided
The CMQ’s Direction des enquêtes et des poursuites en intégrité municipale examined documents and testimony, including accounts from the people implicated. It concluded that reprehensible acts had been committed within three categories of Quebec’s public-sector wrongdoing law: a serious breach of ethics and professional standards, serious mismanagement in a public body and abusive use of public funds.
Those are administrative findings by the provincial municipal watchdog. The report expressly warns that they are not declarations of civil or criminal liability. The rules of proof and procedure would be different in court.
We found no public court judgment or criminal charge arising from the report. We also found no authoritative calculation of the amount Waltham may have lost. Missing public evidence is not proof that no private advice, police review or later action exists.
Document / Investigation report · FrenchWaltham investigation: conclusions and recommendationsCommission municipale du Québec · August 2024View source ↗The job that appeared in the accounts—but not in the work record
The Commission reconstructed the arrangement this way:
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Without a council resolution or delegated authority, the director general initially had his spouse work in his service.
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He then presented council with an accomplished fact and arranged for her to receive municipal salary and benefits.
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Although the couple described administrative mail work, her pay was entered under the municipality’s urban-planning budget line.
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The arrangement continued for almost a decade. Her salary was higher than that of some employees with longer service.
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An external auditor questioned the job in 2023. Her employment ended in October of that year, through a resignation letter the director general wrote.
The Commission’s conclusion is narrower than “she certainly did nothing.” It said the investigation could not support that she was genuinely employed. The distinction matters because the municipality’s recordkeeping was so poor that investigators also could not date some practices or quantify every consequence.
But the records problem was not a minor technicality. A public employer should be able to show who authorized a job, what the employee was expected to do, what work was delivered, who supervised it and what justified the pay. Here, the Commission said the municipal cheques were the only existing trace connecting the spouse to Waltham.
The sworn statements did not rescue the job
When the external auditor raised doubts, the director general prepared sworn statements for some elected officials, including a former mayor, to sign in support of the job’s existence.
Investigators later questioned those signatories. The report says they could not clearly substantiate the facts they had signed. The Commission gave the affidavits no credibility.
That finding is especially consequential because the affidavits were not stray recollections created before the dispute. According to the report, the person whose arrangement was under scrutiny drafted them after the auditor asked questions.
Then the salary lines moved
After the spouse left the payroll, the report says the director general proposed a council resolution that would increase his own salary by the amount she had received. The mayor vetoed it and council did not adopt it.
The report says his salary nonetheless rose substantially in the next budget, which he prepared.
Waltham’s published budgets make the scale visible:
| Budget line | 2023 budget | 2024 budget | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Director general | $49,000 | $79,560 | +$30,560 |
| Urban-planning remuneration | $32,300 | $0 | −$32,300 |
| Total urban planning and regional development | $77,403 | $44,078 | −$33,325 |
The budgets do not name the spouse, show actual payroll paid or prove that the urban-planning remuneration line belonged exclusively to her. Our inference: the timing and similar amounts corroborate the Commission’s narrative, but the documents cannot establish a dollar-for-dollar transfer from one person to another.
That is why we are not multiplying a budget line by ten years or publishing a purported total loss. The records do not support one.
This was a control failure larger than one job
The payroll arrangement sits inside a broader governance collapse documented by the Commission.
Blank municipal cheques
The director general had mayors sign series of blank cheques. When the mayor elected in 2021 objected, he warned that late charges could result and that he would hold her responsible, the report says.
Quebec law required the mayor and secretary-treasurer to sign cheques when they were issued. The Commission found that signing them blank stripped the mayor of meaningful expenditure oversight and bypassed the municipality’s control mechanism.
Roy later told The Equity that the cheques were used only for legitimate, council-approved expenses and that advance signatures avoided delays.
Records Waltham could not reliably retrieve
The municipal office had boxes of paper, empty files, no reliable register and computer documents with uninformative names. The director general used an email address associated with his business for municipal work, leaving Waltham without control of part of its correspondence after he left.
The Commission said those conditions made some decisions, expenses and practices impossible to validate. Councillors also told investigators they received little preparation before meetings and did not understand basic facts about the spouse’s job.
Municipal money and private-business resources
Roy operated a bookkeeping, permit and grant-assistance business from home while doing most of his municipal work there. The report says he submitted handwritten invoices to Waltham for internet, telephone, fax and computer resources that were also used by the business, without council resolutions authorizing those benefits.
The Commission also found Waltham paid monthly to use a computer he owned, continued paying beyond the purchase price and lacked control over replaced computers and municipal data. It characterized the cost as exorbitant and concluded he had used municipal resources for his own benefit without informing successive councils.
The report separately raised vacation-pay concerns. It found the director general and spouse received vacation pay in their regular pay, yet records did not permit investigators to verify whether time away had also been paid. That uncertainty is not a finding of a precise overpayment.
Roy and his spouse gave a different account
Their strongest available position deserves to be read together, not scattered after each finding.
They told investigators the spouse really did work from home, preparing the municipality’s mail. They said she had assisted with daily duties and that making her a municipal employee was fair and allowed her to receive some social benefits.
In a statement to The Equity, Roy disputed the factual findings and conclusions. He said the employment conditions for both of them were known to and approved by previous councils; that the blank cheques paid legitimate, approved expenses; that he never sought payment that did not benefit Waltham; and that he would have corrected the procedures had anyone identified a problem before the September 2023 audit.
The Commission’s current publication process says the person concerned is shown the conclusions and recommendations before publication and may submit official comments. The Waltham report says the former director general and mayor were informed and their comments were considered. The Commission maintained its findings.
There is favourable aftermath too. The Equity reported that the external auditor presented Waltham’s 2023 financial statement to council in October 2024 and said it followed accounting standards without discrepancies. That is evidence of a cleaner later financial statement. It is not a finding that every CMQ recommendation was completed or that earlier conduct was cleared.
What Waltham fixed—and what the public record does not close
The CMQ made six recommendations. Waltham had to file the report publicly, invest resources in rebuilding the office, follow its external auditor, commission a third-party review of the legal effect of missing records, cooperate with an observer and let that observer test whether the corrective measures worked.
The CMQ follow-up report confirms recommendation 1: Waltham filed the report at its September 3, 2024 council meeting. It says an observer had been appointed to follow recommendations 2 through 6.
Later municipal records show concrete control changes. In December 2025, Waltham adopted a resolution requiring every cheque to carry one elected and one administrative signature. Before an elected official may sign, the cheque must already have the corresponding invoice, account code, budget verification and description of the expense.
As of September 10, 2026, the CMQ’s public index links only the investigation report and the initial follow-up that transfers the remaining work to the observer. We found no public observer report saying recommendations 2–6 were complete, failed or still open. Waltham’s current site also shows continued administrative transition, including a September 8 special meeting whose agenda included appointing a director general and transferring municipal systems and records.
This supports partially implemented, not “nothing changed” and not “case closed.” A missing public closure document cannot establish that Waltham failed privately to complete the work.
Then Portage-du-Fort hired him
Portage’s public records show two engagements in 2026.
On June 3, council passed resolution 079-2026 hiring “Fern Roy” as a consultant to help train its interim director general at $65 an hour for a minimum of 30 hours. Councillor Dominic Bisson voted against it. The wording set no maximum. A June 30 vendor-aged summary later posted by the municipality lists $5,124.05 under Fernand Roy’s name, but does not itemize the work or hours behind that amount.
The Equity reported that Roy ultimately billed 97 hours through August 3. Mayor Kevin Murphy told the newspaper more work was required than expected to bring the office up to speed. We did not locate a posted invoice or council minute that independently itemizes the 97 hours, so that number remains attributed to the newspaper’s reporting.
Portage selected a permanent director general on August 20, but its August 30 minutes say that person declined the job. The minutes say the municipality contacted the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and the CMQ for guidance on how to proceed. They list possible recruitment routes, then record resolution S-148-2026: hire Fernand Roy as a consultant to manage the office from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Thursday, until a new director general was found or for a maximum of 30 days, at the same $65 hourly rate.
Councillors Bisson and Cody Coughlin voted against. The other councillors voted in favour.
The fact that Portage contacted the ministry and Commission for procedural guidance does not establish that either body recommended, cleared or endorsed Roy. The minutes do not say that they did.
The Equity reported that Coughlin opposed the second hiring because questions about the contract and Roy’s background were not answered before the vote. Roy told the newspaper after Portage’s September meeting that council was restarting the permanent recruitment process.
Four records the public is still entitled to see
The missing answers are specific and answerable:
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The money: Waltham’s total payments to the spouse, the director general for shared home/business resources, computer rental and any vacation amounts later judged unsupported.
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The legal cleanup: the third party’s analysis of which bylaws, contracts, commitments or other decisions were put at risk by missing records—and what Waltham regularized.
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The observer’s result: dated evidence showing which recommendations were accepted as complete, what remained deficient and whether further measures were required.
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Portage’s safeguards: both Roy contracts, itemized invoices and hours, the council’s background review, any spending cap and the separation of payment, signing, recordkeeping and supervisory powers during his office-management assignment.
These questions do not require residents to assume criminal conduct. They require municipalities to produce the records that distinguish a lawful, controlled decision from another arrangement governed mainly by trust.
What residents can do now
Waltham residents can use the municipality’s public meeting schedule to ask council for the observer outcome and third-party review. The next regular meetings listed when we checked were September 16, October 21, November 24 and December 16, 2026.
Anyone may use Waltham’s access-to-information form to request identified administrative records. A focused request could name the CMQ observer correspondence, the recommendation 4 third-party mandate and report, payroll totals for the spouse’s position, the relevant resource invoices and the municipality’s recovery assessment. Exemptions and reproduction fees may apply.
Portage-du-Fort residents can contact the municipality and ask council to publish both contracts, the invoices and a written account of its due diligence. Its 2026 minutes page contains the June 3 and August 30 votes.
People with evidence of possible current municipal wrongdoing can use the CMQ’s confidential disclosure process. The Commission says the route is for information suggesting wrongdoing, not simply disagreement with a municipal policy or decision.
How we reported this
We treated the supplied report as a lead, downloaded the official CMQ PDFs, extracted and visually checked every relevant page, reconciled the report against Waltham’s budgets and minutes, and checked the CMQ index and both municipalities’ current records on September 10, 2026. English renderings of the French CMQ report are ours.
The 2022 external-auditor management letter that triggered the dispute was not located in Waltham’s public files. We therefore rely on the CMQ’s account of what the auditor questioned and use local reporting only for the auditor’s later public presentation and on-record responses.
We did not name the spouse. The report does not name her, and identifying her is unnecessary to explain the director general’s authority and the public controls at issue.
No fresh response request was sent. The editor authorized publication but did not authorize contacting sources. This Dossier incorporates the couple’s account recorded by the Commission, Roy’s detailed 2024 statement to The Equity, the CMQ’s official-comment process, Portage’s resolutions, the current mayor’s explanation and Roy’s September 2026 statement. Draft questions for Roy, Waltham and Portage have been preserved for any authorized update.
Document / Follow-up report · FrenchFollow-up on the Waltham recommendationsCommission municipale du Québec · August 28, 2024View source ↗ Document / Council record indexPortage-du-Fort council minutes for 2026Municipality of Portage-du-Fort · Checked September 10, 2026View source ↗Document index
15 records attachedSources
- Investigation reportConclusions and recommendations following a disclosure of wrongdoing concerning Waltham
Commission municipale du Québec · Aug 16, 2024
Controlling French-language report for the spouse’s employment, sworn statements, blank cheques, records, private-business resources, vacation pay and legal findings.
- Recommendation follow-upFollow-up report on the Waltham recommendations
Commission municipale du Québec · Aug 28, 2024
Confirms the report was filed September 3, 2024 and says an appointed observer would follow recommendations 2–6.
- Current report indexCMQ wrongdoing conclusions, reports and recommendations index
Commission municipale du Québec
Current index checked September 10, 2026; Waltham has one investigation report and one linked follow-up report.
- Municipal budgetMunicipality of Waltham 2023 budget estimates
Municipality of Waltham
Shows a $49,000 director-general line, $32,300 urban-planning remuneration and $77,403 total urban-planning budget.
- Municipal budgetMunicipality of Waltham 2024 budget estimates
Municipality of Waltham
Shows a $79,560 director-general line, zero urban-planning remuneration and $44,078 total urban-planning budget.
- Council minutesWaltham special council meeting minutes
Municipality of Waltham · Feb 20, 2024
Names Fernand Roy as director general and appoints Annik Plante to replace him as municipal signing authority.
- Council minutesWaltham council meeting minutes
Municipality of Waltham · Sep 3, 2024
Records the CMQ report’s filing and council’s decision to begin recruiting a municipal-office administrative assistant.
- Council minutesWaltham council meeting minutes
Municipality of Waltham · Dec 2, 2025
Resolution 09-02-12-25 requires an elected and administrative signature plus invoice, coding, budget verification and an expense description.
- Current municipal indexWaltham council meetings and minutes
Municipality of Waltham
Current meeting schedule and minutes index checked September 10, 2026.
- Special-meeting notice and agendaNotice of Waltham special council meeting
Municipality of Waltham · Sep 8, 2026
Agenda includes appointing a director general and transferring banking, government, administrative, records and systems authority; it does not establish the meeting outcome.
- Local reporting and subject responseWrongdoing in Waltham
The Equity · Aug 19, 2024
Identifies Fernand Roy, reports the audit’s origin and budgets, and contains his substantive response and the former mayor’s account.
- Local reportingAnnual audit finds Waltham’s finances back to normal
The Equity · Oct 9, 2024
Reports the external auditor’s favourable presentation of Waltham’s 2023 financial statement; this is not a CMQ observer completion report.
- Current council-minutes indexPortage-du-Fort 2026 council minutes
Municipality of Portage-du-Fort
June 3 resolution 079-2026 approves consulting help at $65 an hour for a minimum 30 hours; August 30 resolution S-148-2026 hires Roy to manage the office for up to 30 days.
- Vendor payables indexPortage-du-Fort accounts payable
Municipality of Portage-du-Fort
The posted June 2026 vendor-aged summary lists $5,124.05 under Fernand Roy’s name. It does not itemize hours or services.
- Current local reportingPortage still seeking DG, former Waltham DG to serve in interim
The Equity · Sep 8, 2026
Reports 97 billed consulting hours, the mayor’s explanation, an opposing councillor’s concern, current recruitment and Roy’s emailed statement.