Denis Coderre denies asking police to investigate leak of 2012 traffic ticket

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre says he was "furious"when he was informed ofa journalist's December 2014 inquiries about a traffic ticket that he had been issuedin 2012but he never asked police to investigate the leak.

Coderre testifiedatthepublic commission looking into the police surveillance of journalists.He saidit was the third timeinformation about himhad been leaked to journalists, and he was upset.

The commission, led byQuebec Court of Appeal Justice JacquesChamberland, istasked with looking intopolice surveillance of journalists. CBC/Radio-Canada is a participant in the commission.

Coderre said he calledthe police chief at the time, Marc Parent, to express his anger over the leaks, but he said he never asked him to find thesource.

• DenisCoderredenies telling police officer issuing ticket he'd be her 'future boss'

"I was shocked, so I called [Parent]," the mayor testified."You start to wonder: is it normal that someone should rifle through a computer and leak a ticket [to a journalist]?"

Should I have done that? Maybe not, but I don't regret doing it.- Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre

"There was no intention [behindthe call] ... and no demand whatsoever."

Coderresaid Parent told him it "wasn't normal," and the mayor said that was the extent of the call.

The call lasted two or three minutes, hesaid.

"Should I have done that? Maybe not, but I don't regret doing it," he said.

Coderresaid he has no problem with journalists breaking news, but he did take exception with coverage that wasn't correct.

"It was clear it was getting serious; tickets were being leaked to suggest that I was guilty of influence peddling, that because I'm mayor, I can get off from paying tickets," Coderre said.

A police report of the incident, tabled at the commission, indicatesCoderretold the officer he would be her "future boss."

Coderreswiftly denied that version of events when they were later made public.He pointed out that in 2012 he hadn't yet announced his intention to run in the 2013 mayoral election.

Leaks pressure tactic in labour dispute: Coderre

Coderretestified thathe saw the leaksas a pressure tactic in contract negotiationsbetween the city and Montreal'spolice union, and he pointed to the trashing of City Hall by protesting city workersaround the same time, when police officers did not intervene.

"When you start to look at the crescendo of events, you start to ask if there's not an operation in place [to defame me]," he said.

In testimony earlierMonday, Coderre'scommunications director, Catherine Maurice, described the meeting in whichshe informed him of the email inquiryby La Presse journalist Patrick Lagac and his wanting to know if Coderre paid the ticket.

Lagac's email said he had information from "police sources" that concerned possible "influence peddling."

"It's the third time, tabarnac," Maurice quoted Coderre saying, adding that he was "very annoyed."

After a second meeting on the issue, the samemeeting where Coderre called Parent, she said she left with orders to "get tougher" with Lagac and push him for more information about the basis of a suggestion that Coderre tried to use his position to get out of a ticket.

The next day, Maurice received a call from Montreal police detectiveNormandBorduas about Lagac's inquiry.

"He was asking technical questionswhen he called,was it a landline or cellphone," she said.

Maurice said Borduas laterasked her to forward any documents she received from Lagac, including his emails. He also requested Lagac's cell number, which Maurice gave him.

She said she did not tell Coderre about her communication with Borduas,although she did inform his chief of staff.

• 'Sources have stopped talking to us': Witnesses testify at Day 1 of police-spying commission

Police investigation followed call

Coderre'sappearance Monday follows several days of testimony that revealed the mayor twice called the city's police chief about personal matters.

In his testimony before the commission late last month, Parent spoke to Coderre's call aboutLagac.

Parent served under four different administrations at city hall. That was the only time, he said, a mayor had called him about a private matter.

"I didn't see it as an inappropriate move on the mayor's part,"Parent testified, even thoughCoderrewas "emotional" when he called him.

• Surveillance data gathered by police on journalist not immediately secured, Chamberland commission hears

Parent passed the concern onto the police department's internal affairs division, given that a police officer was likely the source of the leaked ticket.

It was as part of the ensuing internal affairs investigation thatLagachad his phone monitored by Montreal police.

When pressed byChamberland, Parent agreed thatCoderre'sphone call could be seen as having put him in an "uncomfortable situation."

• Montreal police chief defends OK'ing warrant request for journalist's phone data

Other phone calls to new police chief

Testifying last week for the second time since the inquiry began, Montreal's current police chief, Philippe Pichet,acknowledged that Coderre called him about a matter regarding his son.

The mayor reportedly believed his son had been the victim of identity theft. (Alexandre Coderre has since been charged with fraud.)

"I oriented him towards operationswho took charge of the matter,"Pichettold the inquiry. But he also said that it would be preferable if the mayor had acted differently "to avoid all sorts of misperceptions."

Unflattering portrait

Coderre is up for re-election this fall, and opposition politicians have used the commission's revelations to portray him a petty micro-manager.

ProjetMontralhas accused the mayor of politicizing police operations.

Christian Leblanc, the lawyer representing a number of news organizations, asked Coderre if he thinks it's appropriate for the mayor to go through the city's police chief in personal matters.

"When it's a question of security, yes, you can't take any chances," Coderre said.

"When your actions touch the mayor of Montrealthe institution of the mayoror his family, it's normal to have that relation or to call the chief of police."

Coderre said that contact is inevitable given the function's of his office, but has no impact on the separation of powers between the city and its police force.

"To have proximity does not mean interference in their operations and investigations," he said.

"I don't see a problem, personally, with making a call to the chief of police."