(Quebec) The Legault government suspects the City of Montreal of having taken advantage of additional funds from Quebec intended for the fight against crime to reduce its own expenses in the SPVM.
Posted at 6:42 p.m.
He intends to impose strict conditions on Mayor Valérie Plante before granting her an additional envelope for a new squad dedicated exclusively to the fight against armed violence.
The government is in discussions with the City for a possible announcement, but there is a bone, found The Pressan issue also raised by TVA in the early evening.
Quebec has asked the City questions about its funding of the SPVM. According to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the case, the government has found that new funds it has given for policing and fighting crime are not would not have made it possible in Montreal to increase funding for the SPVM. The City would have taken advantage of this money to reduce its own expenses in its police department. These amounts would therefore have been used for other purposes, for other municipal services, we conclude in Quebec.
For example, the City had not filled certain positions at the SPVM, it says. It would have used new provincial funds not to make additional hirings as planned but rather to simply fill these positions and pay the salaries associated with them. On the net, there is no more staff than expected and the City can use the money elsewhere that it would normally have had to spend on the positions in question.
Quebec emphasizes that the situation is not trivial. Its reinvestment for the SPVM reached nearly $12 million in 2018-2019 and amounts to more than $30 million this year. It is entirely justified, in his view, to ask questions about the use of the funds.
This issue is at the center of discussions between the government and the City before giving the green light to the deployment of additional means to counter armed violence.
Quebec wants to make sure that the City does not do the same thing if it grants it funds for a new squad. He makes it a condition.
We are therefore not at the stage of planning an announcement. But this possible operation is delicate. Elections will be called on Sunday. A government announcement the day before or in the first days of the campaign could be badly perceived.
One could always invoke the urgency of the situation, they say. During the 2018 election campaign, outgoing Premier Philippe Couillard announced emergency aid to help victims of Gatineau following a tornado.