Montreal Mayor Coderre says he had no role in ordering journalist surveillance

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Mayor Denis Coderre testified he "blew his top" at a Montreal police chief after a journalist confronted him over a traffic ticket because it was the third time in six months that private matters involving cops had fallen into the hands of reporters.

But Mr. Coderre said he had no role in ordering the investigation that would monitor the telephone activity of La Presse columnist Patrick Lagacé or any of the other probes involving more than half a dozen other journalists who were never accused of wrongdoing but had data mined by police.

The public inquiry into police surveillance of journalists in Quebec led by Justice Jacques Chamberland of the Quebec Court of Appeal was created in November and has so far shown how detectives used reporters as quick investigative shortcuts as police departments struggled to seal internal leaks.

Justice Chamberland has heard justices of the peace were quick to hand out search warrants on reporters and many senior police officials saw no problem with feeding the justices, media and public unsubstantiated or false information in attempts to trap leakers.

The inquiry has also raised questions about political interference in police forces. In Mr. Coderre's case, the inquiry has shown how he called two police chiefs when he had justice issues he wanted to sort out, but the mayor and both chiefs denied any undue influence.

The mayor was getting ready for the Christmas break in 2014 when Mr. Lagacé called his media spokeswoman to ask about a $444 ticket that was issued two years before for failing to renew his vehicle registration. Mr. Lagacé was exploring whether the mayor had used his influence to avoid paying the ticket. (The mayor, it turned out, had paid and Mr. Lagacé did not write a story about it.)

The spokeswoman, Catherine Maurice, said she took Mr. Lagacé's questions to Mr. Coderre who called then-chief Marc Parent. "It's the third time, tabarnak," the mayor told the chief, according to Ms. Maurice.

Mr. Coderre explained he had become impatient after he was accused of demanding a police escort to a concert and of rudely ordering a police officer around at a festival site – incidents he says were invented or misinterpreted. All of it took place during a lengthy and continuing labour dispute between the city and its unionized officers.

"After a while, when you're being defined by people leaking information that isn't complete or accurate, your fuse can get short. I called [then-chief] Marc Parent and told him I was upset, and that was it," Mr. Coderre said.

"I let my emotions get carried away. I won't repeat my language, but I was angry."

Mr. Parent passed along the information to subordinates who handed it to the department's internal affairs division, where the investigation was launched.

Mr. Parent has already testified that it was the only time a mayor called him during his tenure as chief from 2010 to 2015 and he didn't see it as an act of interference. He did say, however, that he would have preferred it if the mayor had not called him directly.

The current chief, Philippe Pichet, testified last week that Mr. Coderre also called him to seek advice about a case of identity theft involving the mayor's son. Mr. Pichet said he directed the mayor to the right department.

Alex Norris, an opposition city councillor who watched Mr. Coderre's testimony, said the mayor was clearly "on a power trip and was called to order today. He was treating the chief of police as a subordinate."

Mr. Coderre said he respected the line between interference and having a collaborative relationship with police leadership.

The inquiry has shown how little regard police had for reporters at times. Last week the inquiry released affidavits from a Laval police officer where he made lewd suggestions of a sexual motivation for a police officer who gave information to Monic Néron, a Cogeco radio reporter known for delivering scoops and rigorous reporting.

"The words were a disgrace and profoundly disrespectful," Ms. Néron said after her own testimony at the inquiry. "They were words worthy of a Neanderthal."