Valérie Plante pledges to spend $ 110 million more on public safety

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Amid a significant increase in gun violence in Montreal, incumbent mayor Valérie Plante said the safety of Montréal residents is a priority for her and that is why she is committed to spending, if re-elected, An additional $ 110 million for public safety. The announcement was made at the Projet Montréal headquarters in the city center on Saturday afternoon.

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The plan is designed to combat gun violence, but much of the money goes to programs established to address psychosocial problems. The $ 110 million will be distributed over the next four years if the Plante Projet Montréal administration returns to power.

Fifteen million dollars will be invested to deploy mediation and social intervention teams in all municipalities through l’Équipe mobile de Médiation et d’intervention sociale (ÉMMIS). This is a totally civil team that has been created to deal with crisis situations, people in danger and for situations that involve the most vulnerable people in society. There is already a pilot program in the Ville-Marie district. But with this new funding, it will become a program in action 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in all districts of the city.

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The project will also encourage police officers to stay for at least three years in the same police station to try to improve relations between officers and the community. Another $ 15 million will be used to support mixed patrols, that is, patrols that include police officers and non-police personnel.

At the press conference, Plante admitted that violent activity is increasing in Montreal and blamed this in part on the growth of new criminal groups, saying this has become a growing problem during the pandemic. He noted that there have been more than 100 incidents of gun violence in Montreal so far this year.

On Saturday morning, a 19-year-old man died of gunshot wounds, in what police say is Montreal’s 22nd homicide of the year.

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“Fifty percent of these events are related to criminal groups and it is too much,” Plante said. “The pandemic appears to have created new types of criminal groups.”

She said Toronto has had more than 300 gun incidents since the beginning of the year and said Chicago had 50 in just one weekend recently.

“We want to make sure that people feel safe,” Plante said.

But he also called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to deliver on his campaign promise and tighten border control to try to stop the flow of illegal weapons into Canada.

On Friday, Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault announced that the Quebec government would spend around $ 90 million to hire about 100 police officers and experts to combat gun violence.

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“To say that Montreal is dangerous is to give up,” Plante said. “That is minimizing the work of the SPVM.”

Last month, Plante announced that his administration would award an additional $ 5.5 million to the SPVM to combat gun violence, allowing police to hire 42 new officers and civilian employees.

“It is Denis Coderre who cut the SPVM budget, not Projet Montréal,” Plante said.

Coderre’s Ensemble Montréal group reacted quickly to the announcement.

“Valérie Plante has shown time and again her lack of leadership in the area of ​​public safety,” he said. Abdelhaq Sari, spokesman for the opposition party for public security issues, in a statement. “After months of inaction and a refusal to increase funding for the police, now Valérie Plante is calling for action in what is clearly an electoral movement. Remember that the Police Fraternity virulently criticized the Major for its improvisational approach. For our part, Ensemble Montréal promises sensible management, the promise to increase the police workforce and the promise not to dismiss or disarm the police ”.

Plante said he does not support the idea of ​​defunding the police.

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