Quebec provincial police ramp up pressure tactics over lagging contract talks

MONTREAL — Quebec provincial police officers stepped up pressure tactics this week over lagging contract talks — including slowing down traffic on a major Montreal highway on Tuesday.

It has been two years since the previous contract expired, and the police union wants to reach a new collective agreement before the summer. A video on the LCN television network showed several provincial police officers on the highway near their lit up, parked vehicles Tuesday, creating a traffic slowdown.

A spokesman for Public Security Minister François Bonnardel declined to comment Wednesday on the strategy that was widely panned in local media as dangerous.

But the head of the provincial police union, the Association des policières et policiers provinciaux du Québec, said police officers are often parked in the area where they were filmed.

Jacques Painchaud said in an interview Wednesday that a supervising lieutenant confirmed the lunch-hour job action was carried out safely. Painchaud said some passing motorists were even supportive of the officers.

Some 5,700 Quebec provincial police officers have been without a contract March 2022, and over the weekend union members started wearing red hats in addition to the camouflage pants they started wearing on the job in December to show their displeasure with the government.

In September, almost 60 per cent of members rejected an agreement in principle that would have given officers a 21 per cent pay increase over five years.

Painchaud said provincial officers want raises that are in line with other municipal and national police forces and are urging the Quebec government take part in a negotiating blitz to conclude a new deal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2024.

The Canadian Press