Will ‘textgate’ hurt Denis Coderre’s bid to become mayor again?

© Provided by The Gazette Ensemble Montréal Leader Denis Coderre introduced some of his new candidates on Friday, May 14, 2021.

The municipal election campaign hasn’t even started, but mayoral candidate Denis Coderre is already mired in controversy for denying that he texted while driving.

On the weekend, the Journal de Montréal published a photo taken by someone showing Coderre at the wheel of his car, looking down at his cellphone with his two thumbs on it.

In two TV interviews Monday, a testy Coderre insisted he had not been texting while driving on Robert-Bourassa Blvd. near René-Lévesque Blvd. on Friday morning. He had simply picked up the phone after it fell out of its holder and checked to see if it was OK before replacing it, he said.

But most people weren’t buying the explanation.

“Plenty of people text while they’re at a red light, but lying about it makes it even worse. Just say you’ve done it and you shouldn’t have,” said poll analyst Philippe J. Fournier of the Qc125 blog.

La Presse columnist Mario Girard said Tuesday that Coderre’s “explanation didn’t convince me at all.”

Commentators also asked why Coderre waited 48 hours to respond.

In an interview Monday with Radio-Canada’s Patrice Roy, an angry Coderre lashed out at the photo as intrusive, charging that it was preventing him from talking “about the real issues,” like gunfire in the Old Port on the weekend and the city’s budget.

“This has to stop,” said Coderre, pointing to his 40-year political career. Such incidents discourage people from entering politics, he charged.

The kerfuffle shows “Denis Coderre has not really changed” despite his personal makeover after losing the 2017 municipal election, Fournier said.

Coderre shed more than 100 pounds through dieting, boxing and cycling after his defeat to Valérie Plante.

A Léger poll last week gives him a 12-point lead over Plante, with 46 per cent of voting intentions, compared with 34 per cent for the current mayor.

But Fournier said Coderre must keep his temper in check to stay ahead.

“If Coderre comes out with a cranky old man campaign, it will be difficult,” he said.

The controversy came a day after Plante was also caught on camera sitting at a table at an outdoor café with four other people , only one of whom wore a mask. The permitted maximum is two.

Plante immediately fessed up on Twitter, calling the incident “my mistake.”

She said she had been eating with a friend when three members of her staff came over to chat for a few minutes.

“We should have put our masks back on. It shows that we have to be vigilant and that we are not immune from mistakes despite our good intentions,” she said.

mscott@postmedia.com