"He does not have a choice, he should resign," said Marois at a news conference. "No members of my government had a choice about this support for Mr. Applebaum. We didn’t know he could have problems with the law."
Applebaum faces 14 criminal charges, including fraud against the government, breach of trust, conspiracy and municipal corruption, the provincial anti-corruption unit UPAC announced.
Marois said she does not believe the City of Montreal should be placed under trusteeship because Applebaum is the only member of municipal council facing charges.
"I don't think we should be discrediting every politician who is acting in good faith," said Marois.
The provincial minister responsible for Montreal, Jean-François Lisée, said city council should select an interim mayor to serve until the next municipal election, to be held in November.
Applebaum left provincial police headquarters in a taxi without commenting to the media Monday afternoon, 10 hours after his arrest on 14 charges, including fraud.
The list of charges against Applebaum was made public at a news conference several hours after the mayor and two other people were arrested.
UPAC said the charges relate to obtaining permission and political support for two real estate projects in Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough between 2006 and 2011.
"No one is above the law and you can't hide from the law," said Robert Lafrenière, head of UPAC.
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