Canada Mayor Crisis Spreads: Montreal Mayor In Custody

There's no crack video and it didn't take a flotilla of 50 police vehicles, but this morning Quebec provincial police arrested Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum, according to several Canadian news outlets including CTV.

More details on the arrest are expected in a 10 AM ET news conference.

Applebaum has been under scrutiny for real estate transactions he engaged in while serving as mayor of the Montreal borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

In January, Applebaum insisted to reporters that he was not under investigation by Quebec's Permanent Anticorruption Unit, the body which arrested him this morning.

Applebaum was appointed in November to fill out a partial term as mayor. His predecessor, Gérald Tremblay, resigned amid an investigation into whether his political party took illegal contributions from mafia-linked construction firms in exchange for city contracts.

Montreal's ongoing corruption scandals come at the same time as Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been dogged by allegations that there is a video showing him smoking crack. Last week, Toronto and Ontario police conducted a massive raid on an apartment complex that has been linked to the Ford scandal, arresting 43 people and seizing dozens of firearms and over $570,000.

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