Denis Coderre

Denis Coderre (born July 25, 1963) is a Canadian politician from Quebec.

The family moved to Montréal-Nord in 1973, where Coderre attended École Secondaire Henri-Bourassa and Cégep Marie-Victorin.

He has a BA in political science from the Université de Montréal and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Ottawa.

In April 2023, he suffered a mild stroke.

Coderre ran unsuccessfully three times prior to being elected: first, in the 1988 election in the riding of Joliette, losing to the Progressive Conservative Party candidate, Gaby Larrivée; second, in a 1990 by-election in the riding of Laurier—Sainte-Marie, losing to Gilles Duceppe; and third, in the 1993 elections in the riding of Bourassa, defeated by the Bloc Québécois candidate, Osvaldo Núñez.

Coderre was the member of Parliament for the riding of Bourassa from 1997 until 2013, and was the Immigration minister from 2002 to 2003 and became the mayor of Montreal in 2013, but lost in 2017 to Valérie Plante.

In 2021, he was defeated once again by Valérie Plante after a second mayoral race.

Coderre was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1997 representing the riding of Bourassa, located in Montreal, and was re-elected in the 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2011 federal elections.

In August 1999 he was appointed Secretary of State for Amateur Sport.

In January 2002, he was appointed Immigration minister.

As Minister of Immigration, Coderre supervised the application of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which came into effect on June 28, 2002.

As Secretary of State for Amateur Sport, Coderre successfully negotiated a number of national and international agreements and helped to establish the World Anti-Doping Agency in Montreal.

As minister of Immigration, Coderre was responsible, along with his cabinet colleague Wayne Easter, for the detention of Adil Charkaoui, a Moroccan immigrant with a checkered travel history, on a security certificate.

On December 12, 2003, Prime Minister Paul Martin advised Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to appoint Coderre to the Cabinet as President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada where he was responsible for a number of files, such as the creation of the new Public Service Human Resources Management Agency.

He was also the Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians, the Minister responsible for La Francophonie and the Minister responsible for the Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution.

Coderre was not re-appointed to Cabinet following the 2004 general election, despite being re-elected in his riding.

Close links to Claude Boulay of Groupe Everest, another actor in the sponsorship scandal, were also made during the Gomery Inquiry, which cost him his cabinet position in 2004.

No legal action has been taken to substantiate or disprove the allegations.

Doan was given a gross misconduct penalty for verbal abuse of the officials at the end of the December 13, 2005 game between his team, the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Montreal Canadiens.

Referees and linesmen for the game were all francophones from Quebec.

Although one of the linesmen, Michel Cormier, filed a report against the player, Doan was cleared by NHL Executive Vice-President Colin Campbell, the league's chief disciplinarian, who concluded that the allegations were baseless.

Doan himself has denied that he ever made the ethnic slur.

During the 2006 election, Coderre accused National Hockey League player Shane Doan of uttering ethnic slurs directed against French-speaking referees at a game in Montreal.

Coderre wrote a letter to the Canadian Olympic Committee asking them to keep Doan off Canada's 2006 hockey team competing at the Olympics in Turin, Italy.

The Globe and Mail columnist Eric Duhatschek noted that "the NHL is tough on ethnic slurs ... if Mr. Coderre has any proof he should produce it. Otherwise he should just shut up."

Hockey commentator John Davidson accused Coderre of "grandstanding" and criticized his accusation, saying that "a person shouldn't go stand on a platform and yell and scream about it when he doesn't even know the facts."

In January 2006, Doan sued Coderre for character defamation seeking $250,000 in damages with Doan promising to donate all damages awarded to charities to benefit Canadians.

Coderre won re-election to the House of Commons in 2006, but the Liberals lost the campaign and became the Official Opposition party.

Coderre was the Liberal Defence Critic.

On April 2, 2007 Coderre counter-sued Doan for defamation seeking $45,000 in damages after referee Michel Cormier reiterated under oath that Doan made a racist comment against him as a Francophone.

In 2007 Coderre made allegations against the previous Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier (retired) of being a "prop".

Hillier in return has accused Coderre of being more concerned with party image than in protecting Canadian Forces members.

In October 2007, Coderre made a self-planned visit to Afghanistan to visit the war-torn country and the Canadian Forces in the Kandahar region.

Restrictions on Charkaoui's conditional release were gradually lifted, and were cancelled in September 2009, on his final release order by Federal Court Judge Danièle Tremblay-Lamer.

During the events of the Sponsorship Scandal Denis Coderre was accused of frequent confidential conversations with Pierre Tremblay, head of the Communications Coordination Services Branch of Public Works.

Coderre has denied these allegations.

His previous position as vice-president of public affairs for Le Groupe Polygone Éditeurs Inc. is judged to be the key connecting factor.

He criticized the Harper government — who did not invite him on an official tour of the country that was made by Ministers Bev Oda and Maxime Bernier a few days before him — and consequently, Coderre, as Liberal defense critic, had to travel by himself at his own expense, mentioned that the mission in Afghanistan must change in 2009.

He has been an administrator of Eurostar since 2018 and special advisor for the FIA since 2019.

Born in Joliette, Quebec, Coderre is the son of Elphege Coderre, a carpenter, and Lucie Baillargeon.