Legault Vowed To 'Restore Order' In Montreal After Broad-Daylight Gun Murders
Mayor Plante shared the steps the city is taking to, she says, boost public security.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante holds a press conference to discuss public security on August 24.
"We will not accept, as a government, that Montreal becomes a shooting range for gangs," Quebec Premier François Legault wrote on Twitter in the aftermath of two deadly, broad-daylight shootings in Montreal on Tuesday.
Since those incidents, one inside a downtown restaurant, the other in a mall parking lot, officials at all levels of government have taken to social media to denounce gun violence and commit to, often vaguely, take action to, in the words of the premier, "restore order" in the city.
\u201cOn n\u2019acceptera pas, comme gouvernement, que Montr\u00e9al devienne un champ de tir pour les gangs.\u201d— Fran\u00e7ois Legault (@Fran\u00e7ois Legault) 1661365555
Many of those statements focused on supporting the police force.
"Safety is a societal issue that must be addressed at all levels, and that is what we are doing," Mayor Valérie Plante wrote on Twitter Thursday. "I would also like to say to the police officers of Montreal: we will not give up on you."
\u201cDepuis hier, je suis en contact constant avec @francoislegault, et @JustinTrudeau.\n\nJ\u2019ai rappel\u00e9 \u00e0 tout le monde l\u2019importance de contribuer au succ\u00e8s de notre plan en s\u00e9curit\u00e9 urbaine. Et les gouvernements confirment qu\u2019ils vont appuyer la m\u00e9tropole et le @SPVM.\u201d— Val\u00e9rie Plante (@Val\u00e9rie Plante) 1661375709
She called on the provincial and federal governments to "contribute to the success" of her administration's "urban security plan" and outlined commitments to "[recruit] at the National Police Academy," "[give] tools to the SPVM to work in better conditions" and "increase the number of social workers in the field and in the boroughs."
These are in addition, she said, to efforts already underway to hire more than 280 SPVM employees, "launch a school team project with SPVM," "launch prevention projects" with funding from the provincial government and "work with feds to accelerate gun buyback program."
\u201cThe shootings that took place in Montreal yesterday are unacceptable, and I spoke with Mayor @Val_Plante today about the steps we\u2019re taking to combat gun violence. We\u2019ll keep working together to make our communities safer \u2013 Montrealers and all Canadians deserve nothing less.\u201d— Justin Trudeau (@Justin Trudeau) 1661376815
At the federal level, Canada already plans to ban new handgun imports and institute a freeze on domestic handgun sales among other measures targeting gun propagation and violence in a bill under consideration in the House of Commons.
In May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the provisions in the bill "some of the strongest measures in Canadian history to keep guns out of our communities and build a safer future for everyone."
But the legislation doesn't go as far as banning handguns outright, a move Mayor Plante has long demanded.