The opposition at Montreal City Hall wants Denis Coderre to apologize, after the mayor admitted he had spoken to former police chief, Marc Parent, when La Presse journalist and CJAD 800 contributor Patrick Lagacé was investigating the mayor.
Coderre told a radio interviewer on Monday that he made the call to the police chief two years ago to talk about Lagacé's investigation into a traffic ticket Coderre received in 2012 — while he was still a federal MP.
At a traffic stop in March 2012, Coderre received a $444 fine for driving a car that didn't have a valid licence plate.
Two years later, after Coderre's election, Lagacé got wind of rumors at the police department which suggested that Coderre was attempting to use his power as mayor to have the ticket cancelled.
In an interview with radio station 98.5 on Monday, Coderre said that he spoke with Parent to find out if it was legal for Lagacé to investigate his traffic tickets.
"It was not a request for investigation. It was for Coderre as a citizen. I asked Parent 'Is this legal?'" Coderre told the radio station. "There is a difference between political interference and me as a citizen. They were digging into my records...so we checked into Lagacé."
Coderre insists he did not ask Parent to monitor Lagacé, or tap his phone — but the opposition Projet Montréal party says Coderre's radio interview is essentially an admission of his involvement in his monitoring of the media.
"You have politicians asking police to keep track of who's calling journalists. We're in a very serious state of affairs and Mr. Coderre seems to be the only one who doesn't understand this," said opposition councillor Alex Norris.
Party leader Luc Ferrandez also wants the upcoming provincial inquiry into police spying to include Coderre.