Coderre expected to testify at police spying inquiry on Monday

Mayor will be asked how he reacted to questions about ticket he received

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre is expected to testify before the Chamberland Commission on Monday.

Justice Jacques Chamberland, the head of the commission into how police have spied on Quebec journalists to uncover leaks, made the announcement on Friday. The commission is also expected to hear testimony from Catherine Maurice, Coderre’s press attaché. Coderre and Maurice will apparently be asked about how they reacted when Patrick Lagacé, a reporter with La Presse, asked questions about a ticket Coderre received for a Highway Code infraction.

Chamberland announced the plans for Monday after the Chamberland Commission heard from two witnesses on Friday.

Commission lawyer Charles Levasseur asked one of the witnesses, SQ Capt. Guy Lapointe, about a controversial technique — that the Montreal police considered using — during his testimony Friday morning. Lapointe said that, to his knowledge, the SQ has not used the technique and, he said, he fails to see the point.

The Chamberland Commission learned that Montreal police internal affairs investigator Det-Sgt. Iad Hanna prepared an investigation plan in an effort to find out who among their detectives was leaking information about internal problems within the Eclipse Squad, a unit that investigates street gangs.

Montreal police were prepared to put out false information to see if it would be published and was even willing to deny that they were the source of the false information if it ever got out. If they had done so, they would knowingly discredit the reputation of the journalist who reported it.

The technique was ultimately not used, but a few high-ranking officers in the Montreal police, including Chief Philippe Pichet, have said they have no problem with using it in the future. Earlier this week, Pichet said he was OK with the technique if it were tightly controlled.

Lapointe manages 20 officers who deal with the media on a regular basis and he told the commission using such a technique could ruin a police force’s credibility.

“To my knowledge we have not used it,” he said adding he has no interest in ruining the trust he has established in his long career handling media relations for the police. “I don’t see the effectiveness of it.”

“I would have difficulty justifying using a technique like that. It could have heavy consequences.”

Lapointe and the other witness who testified Friday, SQ Det.-St. François Berger, were asked for details on why Pierre Laflamme, a lieutenant-detective with the SQ’s major crimes division, was suspended in 2012.

Berger explained it was because Laflamme had shared too much information on several highprofile cases to Marie-Christine Bergeron, a reporter with TVA, in 2011 and 2012. Berger was in charge of the investigation into the leaks and said a fellow officer, Lt. Michel Brunet, suggested he focus on Bergeron because “to use his term, he found that she had won the 6/49 (lottery) often enough.”

“By 6/49 you mean the news version of the 6/49?” Chamberland asked.

Yes,” Berger replied. “She had won the 6/49 often.”

Lapointe said the SQ first suspected Laflamme was the leak after Paul Laplante, a man who had been arrested for the murder of his wife, Diane Grégoire, committed suicide while detained at the Rivière-des-Prairies Detention Centre on Jan. 9, 2012. Lapointe was informed of the death by Sylvain Bergeron, the head of the major crimes division, and ten minutes later TVA was reporting on the suicide on its all-news channel LCN. Lapointe said he called Sylvain Bergeron back immediately to inform him the news had somehow gotten out.

“(Sylvain Bergeron) then realized that when he (first told me about Laplante’s suicide) Laflamme was seated at the same table as him and was texting something to someone underneath the table,” Lapointe said.

Lapointe said he already had concerns about leaks in the Laplante case when TVA called him and asked him to confirm that Laplante was about to be arrested. At that very moment, Lapointe said, an SQ surveillance team was following Laplante while he was driving in a vehicle waiting for an opportunity to arrest him.

Berger said the investigation revealed Laflamme had contacted Bergeron dozens of times using a BlackBerry issued to him by the SQ. According to a report the SQ prepared before Laflamme was suspended, Laflamme said to his superiors that Bergeron “was a friend of his family who had visited his home.”

The commission was told that Laflamme has retired from the SQ.