The day after the shots that hit a daycare center in the Rivière-des-Prairies sector, Mayor Valérie Plante launched a new appeal to the federal government to ban handguns in the country once and for all. She also wants armed violence to become an issue in the Quebec election campaign.
“I don’t know how long we’re going to wait and when, at some point, political courage will show up, but I’m calling on the federal government because handguns are circulating. The SPVM and the SQ say it: every time they manage to remove weapons, there are others who enter and it is not the cities that can find a solution to that, ”argued Wednesday morning. the mayor during the weekly meeting of the executive committee.
This is not the first time that Mayor Plante has challenged the government of Justin Trudeau on the trafficking of illegal weapons. Last September, the mayors of five large Quebec cities had urged the federal parties in the campaign to engage on the issue of firearms, but in vain.
Valérie Plante also had a message for party leaders involved in the Quebec election campaign. She asked them on Wednesday to support the demands of Montreal and other Quebec cities for better gun control. “We don’t want weapons. Therefore, there must be a firm will to combat this arms trafficking at the source,” she said. “I fervently hope that this will be one of the subjects that will be put forward [en campagne électorale]. I look forward to hearing the leaders of the Quebec parties speak out on this issue, on banning handguns. »
Extensive police operation
Valérie Plante described as “disturbing” the shots fired Tuesday in Rivière-des-Prairies and which reached a daycare center. However, the establishment was closed at the time of the events, which occurred at the end of the afternoon, and no one was injured. “It sends shivers down the spine,” she commented.
Other violent events have also occurred recently in Ville-Marie, Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension and Anjou, underlined the mayor. And on Tuesday, a massacre at an elementary school in Texas, United States, left 21 dead, including 19 children. “In Montreal, we don’t want this violence. »
These statements come as the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) proceeded on Wednesday morning to dismantle a major network of trafficking and production of amphetamines in the metropolitan area. About twenty searches were carried out in the greater Montreal area and in other Quebec municipalities. This operation, in which 280 police officers participated, was carried out in the wake of an investigation by the anti-gang team of the SPVM’s Organized Crime Division. The police force will provide an update on the operation on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s a way of attacking the source of income for organized crime, which is that of drugs,” insisted Valérie Plante. “When we attack this source of income, it is less income to buy weapons. So, for us, it is very important. »