Former mayor of Montreal and candidate for the Quebec Liberal Party leadership Denis Coderre is being sought for $66,000 in taxes claimed by Revenu Quebec, according to documents.
The Journal de Montreal reports that Revenu Quebec registered a “legal mortgage on a property acquired by Denis Coderre and his ex-partner in Montreal North in the late 1990s.”
The residence "has been inhabited exclusively by my ex-wife for years and we are in the final process of separation at the end of the month," said Coderre late Wednesday afternoon. Corderre is the only one that is being targeted in the tax procedures.
The Liberal leadership candidate, however, declined to explain the reason for the debt, stating only that it is confidential information pertaining to family matters. The end of Coderre's relationship took place a few years prior to the period being assessed by Revenu Québec.
Documents show that Coderre earned an income of $460,000 in 2020. $93,000 from his pension as a former longtime federal MP, along with $364,428 from dividends received from his management company. He paid a total of $187,850 in provincial in federal taxes that year.
Earlier this summer, Coderre informed the Journal’s Investigation Bureau that over two years ago, he had worked as a consultant for BMNJ and Gestion Groupe Bernard, two firms associated with businessman Hugo Bernard. These companies have since folded and were reportedly controlled behind the scenes by a businessman with ties to organized crime.
The mandate involved proposing a gypsum recycling project ("gyproc"). However, according to the former mayor, this project never materialized. Coderre did not disclose how much he was compensated for this work at that time.
Corderre announced in June that he would be running for the leadership of the PLQ, despite having suffered a stroke in April of 2023.
