The Sûreté du Québec arrested a 40-year-old man who allegedly made serious death threats to the leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ): “Your days are numbered,” he wrote to him.
“This is my last message. I am warning you that if you do not change your speech on immigration, I will arrange to exterminate your family,” the suspect said to Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
These threats were made by email at the beginning of March and aimed in particular to impose a drastic immigration policy on the leader of the PQ.
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“You go […] force all immigrants of color [à] forced repatriation to their nation. Non-negotiable,” dictates the man who gives Mr. Plamondon 30 days to act.
“0 immigration to Quebec. ZERO,” he adds, among other comments that arouse indignation.
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ), which took the situation very seriously, quickly located the suspect and arrested him 4 days after the threats, Béatrice Dorsainville, spokesperson for the provincial police, confirmed to us.
Béatrice Dorsainville
Courtesy photo
Bulletproof jackets
Particularly worrying, the suspect also told Mr. Plamondon that he and his group had drawn up a list of his family members and those of all Quebec politicians.
In this regard, the leader of the PQ is not the only one to have been targeted by threats in recent weeks.
“A recent wave of threats has hit more than one member of the National Assembly,” said one of our sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to comment publicly on the situation.
So much so that the Sûreté du Québec assessed whether the targeted people needed to be equipped with bulletproof jackets, we also learned. The police usually only plan such a measure during an electoral campaign.
No charges yet
The PQ leader’s chief of staff, France Amyot, confides that the situation is disturbing: “Trying to coerce an elected official in this way is unacceptable,” she said on the phone.
“It was a very difficult moment for Mr. Plamondon and his family,” she adds.
The suspect arrested at the beginning of March had to be released with a promise to appear, M told usme Dorsainville.
The SQ spokesperson specifies that the investigation has not been completed. Computer equipment was seized and is currently being analyzed.
Beyond this recent wave of threats, the Newspaper had already reported in September 2022 an increase in reports.
Their number increased from 16 cases in 2019 to 396 cases in 2021. The increase in threats was associated with the application of health measures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.