Montreal

Gilles Deguire to get $146K severance

Gilles Deguire, the former mayor of Montreal North, will be receiving a severance package of more than $146,000 despite resigning last month under criminal investigation.

Former Montreal North mayor stepped down last month, charged with sexual assault

Gilles Deguire served as a Montreal police officer before going into politics. (Radio-Canada)

The former mayor of Montreal North will be receiving a severance package of more than $146,000 despite resigning last month under criminal investigation.

Gilles Deguire has since been charged with sexual assault and the sexual touching of a minor.

The information is being made public because Deguire has signalled he wants the money.

The City of Montreal says it has no choice but to pay him according to provincial law.

In 2014, the city asked Quebec to put additional restrictions on the awarding of severance pay, but the proposed changes have yet to be adopted.

Before entering politics in 1999, Deguire was a Montreal police officer for 30 years, including stints with the youth crimes prevention squad and later as an investigator with the department's sexual crimes unit.

He worked for 10 years as a political attaché for Bourassa-Sauvé MNA Line Beauchamp. He was elected borough mayor in 2009.