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SPCA investigating Quebec mayor who says he deliberately runs over cats

Cat lovers might find this story a little disturbing.

According to reports, Huntingdon, Quebec mayor Stephane Gendron said that he tries to kill stray cats while driving his pick-up truck.

"First of all, cats have no business being in the road, if it’s a stray cat in the road, bang, I accelerate," he said recently during his French-language radio show, according to CTV News.

The Huffington Post had this even more disturbing quote from the same radio show.

“The other day, I backed up on one, it was a newborn”, he said on-air. “I’m sure he didn’t feel anything. The pickup truck ran on it like nothing. I was so happy, yes! One less.”

Appropriately, the SPCA is investigating.

"I believe [he] stated that he enjoyed speeding up and did so when he saw a cat coming and that he had backed over a cat that had just given birth and I believe he talked about seeing kittens starve or die of thirst," Alanna Devine of the SPCA told CTV.

[ Related: Canadian praise B.C. and Alberta, critical of Quebec in 'best and worst provinces' poll ]

Huntingdon — a town 15 kilometres north of the U.S. border — has had Gendron as their steward since 2003. The controversial radio/television host has been a controversial mayor.

In 2006, he allegedly called then Premier Jean Charest a "murderer."

In January 2009, he wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper criticizing him about his pro-Israel stance.

"You are a shame for Canada; you are just disgusting; you have no clue of history and humanity," he wrote.

And, in 2011, according to CTV News, he called Israel an "apartheid state" that "does not deserve to exist.

[ More Quebec Politics: Quebec’s French language battle descends on IGA break room ]

Quebec seems to be having some difficulties with their mayors, of late.

Since November, the City of Montreal has lost two Mayors — Michael Applebaum and his predecessor Gerald Tremblay — over corruption allegations. Moreover, Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt stepped down in November and was later charged with fraud and gangsterism.

It's certainly not the golden-age of municipal politicians in La Belle Provence.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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