Plante pledges $ 110 million to tackle gun violence as Montreal police report 2 more homicides – Montreal | The Canadian News

Amid a surge in gun violence in Montreal, incumbent mayor Valérie Plante pledged $ 110 million in public safety funding if she is reelected in the upcoming municipal elections.

This comes as the city reported two more gun-related homicides over the weekend. A 19-year-old man died in hospital early Saturday from gunshot wounds and a 33-year-old man was found shot to death on the ground in Rivière-des-Prairies (RDP) in northern Montreal at noon Sunday.

Police say this brings the number of homicides in the city to 23 so far this year.

Fifty percent of the latest firearm violence incidents in the city are related to criminal gangs, Plante said Saturday. He added that there have been more than 100 firearm-related crimes in the city so far this year, comparing it to Toronto, the country’s long-standing gun violence capital, which has 300.

She said the $ 110 million budget, spent over the next four years, will go towards the deployment of mediation and social intervention teams in all counties around the clock to deal with crisis situations involving vulnerable people. It will also go towards encouraging police to work at the same station for at least three years to improve the relationships officers have with the communities in which they patrol and to fund mixed patrols – that is, patrols that include officers and staff. not police.

This comes after the Quebec government announced on Friday that it would spend $ 90 million to reduce violence and arms trafficking by hiring more than 100 police officers and experts.

Plante has continually said that he does not support defunding the police.

The incumbent’s opponents, Denis Coderre and Balarama Holness, criticized Plante’s plan.

READ MORE: ‘We’ve had enough’: Quebec contributes $ 90 million to tackle gun violence

“After months of inaction and refusal to increase the (police) workforce, Valérie Plante now promises to act on an electoral move,” said Abdelhaq Sari, who is in charge of Coderre’s public security file.

“Let’s remember that even the police fraternity vehemently criticized the mayor for her improvisation.”

Coderre’s party told Global News it is proposing “good management” – an increase in the police workforce and a promise not to withdraw funds or disarm the police.

Sari added that Coderre will also have officers wear body cameras and create a seat on City Hall for the head of the Montreal police department.

Community organization Defund the SPVM has continually denounced any increase in funding for law enforcement and a lack of community funding, something Holness supports.

Holness said that Plante and Coderre’s approach to the issue of gang violence is a strict approach to law and order, which he says is the wrong strategy.

“The $ 110 million will not address the root cause of violence: poverty, lack of community, health and social services, sports and recreation infrastructure, career guidance for youth, job training, and equal employment opportunities,” Holness said. “We need to invest in communities and be proactive, not reactive.”

Holness said her party recognizes that gang violence and increased firearms circulation need to be addressed first, but says special task forces on gang violence that have intelligence on the issue should do so.

He said that if elected, his party would ask the city to have state-like powers to tackle firearm crimes rather than give in to the federal government on the issue of gun legislation.

“Plante is always waiting for the provincial or federal governments to act, and we are saying that as a metropolis, we would request the powers to address gun legislation directly,” Holness said.

Plante said he has called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to tighten the borders to better control the movement of illegal firearms in the country.

Concordia University professor and researcher Ted Rutland, whose work focuses on the racial politics of urban planning and policing, said Plante’s plan “is moving completely in the wrong direction.”

“People yearn for a different approach to public safety, ensured through investments in community services and programs,” Rutland said. “And that’s not all”.

Montréal residents will go to the polls on November 7, 2021.