MONTREAL -- Benoit Dorais, the President of the Executive Committee of Montreal, apologized Thursday for his lack of judgment while driving.

The elected official temporarily lost his licence when he was stopped driving more than 70 km/h over the 100 km/h speed limit. As first reported in the Journal de Montreal, Dorais has a history of driving too fast, having been ticketed eight times for speeding -- three times since he was elected.

In a message posted on his Facebook page, the mayor of the SouthWest borough said he made "a mistake in judgment and I assure you this is not the type of behaviour I hope to promote."

He apologized to the public, Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante, and other elected officials.

"I don't want to minimize the number of tickets. I recognize those nine tickets but it's nine tickets in 25 years, so it's since I've had my licence," he said. "I have the capacity to continue. I have a good judgment. The mayor of Montreal has confidence in me in my capacity to continue our administration... keep an eye on the objective."

Opposition leader Lionel Perez said Monday that Dorais had lost the moral authority to govern, especially because of the Projet Montreal's determination to reduce speed limits and deter car traffic.

"They no longer have the credibility as long as he's there to talk about issues of speed, about Vision Zero, about deterrence when it comes to fines. We're going to be able to point that out. It's going to undermine the trust of the population in elected officials. It's going to disturb the way her city is run and functions," he said.

A few days ago Mayor Plante said that she maintained her confidence in Dorais.