Denis Coderre denies telling police officer issuing ticket he'd be her 'future boss'
Montreal mayor says he will testify before commission looking into police surveillance of journalists
Mayor Denis Coderre is denying he told a Montreal police officer who was issuing him a ticket that he would be her "future boss."
An investigation report by the Montreal police's internal affairs division, made public yesterday, gives a police officer's account of what happened when she issued a ticket to Coderre in 2012 for using an expired licence.
The report was written by Montreal police internal affairs investigator Normand Borduas, who is testifying before the Chamberland commission into police surveillance of journalists.
In the report, Borduas wrote that the officer said Coderre told her he would be her boss one day. She said she did not know who Coderre was at the time.
He became the city's mayor the following year.
The report also said Coderre's press secretary at the time gave Lagacé's cell phone number to police before they started monitoring him.
The contents of Borduas's report raised the alarm of the city's opposition. Projet Montréal councillor Alex Norris called Coderre's alleged comment "totally unacceptable," calling it "borderline intimidation."
"He seems to see himself as the boss of the police, that the police are working for him personally rather than for all Montrealers, and that's what's troubling about this behaviour," Norris told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.
'I didn't say it': Coderre
The mayor's office had said it wouldn't be commenting on the report, but at a city council meeting Tuesday morning Projet Montréal Leader Valérie Plante asked Coderre point blank to confirm whether he made that remark.
"No, I didn't say it, and we should let the inquiry do its work," he replied.
Coderre said the inquiry has already heard a full day of testimony from Borduas, during which the witness stated that his internal affairs investigation pointed to the fact that the police union was trying to sully the mayor's reputation.
Coderre added in March 2012, when he was stopped, he hadn't even decided if he would run for mayor.
La Presse columnist Patrick Lagacé's cell phone records over a two-week period were tracked after he asked the mayor's office about the ticket in question.
Lagacé's revelation was the first in a series of similar discoveries that led to the creation of the commission, which is being led by Justice Jacques Chamberland, an appeals court judge with 45 years of experience.
Coderre announced Tuesday that he too would be appearing before the commission. He will testify next month.
"I'm looking forward to giving my version and answering all the questions," he said.
CBC/Radio-Canada is a participant in the commission.
With files from Radio-Canada, CBC's Daybreak