Many Montrealers think Mayor Denis Coderre has the gift of the gab. Apparently, the "gift" isn't free.
The Journal de Montreal has obtained the mayor's speechwriting bill.
About half of the mayor's addresses are written by city hall employees. The rest are handled by freelance speechwriters. Coderre has given some 400 speeches since he was elected to the mayor's job in 2013.
Over the past three years, Coderre has paid the speechwriters more than $250,000 for his bon mots. That's nine times more than his predecessors spent during the same length of time.