Article content

MONTREAL — It was December 2014, Denis Coderre had just celebrated his first anniversary as mayor of Montreal, and some embarrassing press coverage was getting under his skin.

First, there had been a TVA scoop that he used a police escort so he and his wife could get their picture taken with Corey Hart at the pop star’s farewell concert. Then TVA reported on a speeding ticket the mayor received.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Denis Coderre's phone call about suspected leaks led to police spying on reporter Back to video

Finally, La Presse journalist Patrick Lagacé emailed city hall to check on a rumour that Coderre had avoided paying a $444 fine assessed in 2012 for not renewing his car registration.

Coderre acknowledged Monday after the Lagacé inquiry, he called “my chief of police” to complain about what he suspected were leaks from within the police department. He said he wanted to know whether the law had been broken.

The mayor’s call led to a criminal investigation for breach of trust and a warrant to obtain Lagacé’s phone record. Now, Coderre has been drawn directly into the growing Quebec scandal over police spying on journalists.