Montreal mayor demands apology from Duchesneau

Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay is seeking an apology from Jacques Duchesneau over comments made before the Charbonneau commission into corruption in the construction industry.

Duchesneau, the former head of Quebec's anti-collusion squad, told the Charbonneau commission that he warned Tremblay about certain people in his administration.

At a press conference on Thursday, Tremblay said he was never warned about specific people.

"If he has names, I challenge him today give the names. Make them public. I have nothing to hide," Tremblay told reporters.

"For the past five years, I've identified people and criminal accusations have been tabled in the different courts. If he has names, if he says he gave me the names, which he did not do, why doesn't he say [them]?"

Tremblay said he has no plans to on taking legal action against Duchesneau.

"All I'm asking is to retract what he said, and as a result of that to recognize publicly that we're allies. We have the same objective, we have the same cause, we want to shed the light on all these allegations of collusion and corruption," said Tremblay.

Duchesneau has made headlinesby claiming that provincial political parties are awash in dirty money with up to 70 per cent of their cash raised illegally.

Earlier this month before the Charbonneau commission, Duchesneau and two ex-colleagues were alsogrilled over the evidence to back up their bold assertions.

The questioning became so fierce at one point that the presiding judge cautioned other lawyers to avoid aggressive cross-examinations.