Police union head should speak out about evidence, says justice minister

The Couillard government went on the attack Monday, claiming that Montreal police union president, Yves Francoeur, “hurt” the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) by his silence, four days after Francoeur made allegations about Liberal MNAs.

Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée led the charge, lecturing opposition parties who believed Francoeur’s assertions, and admitted that she was trembling with rage.

“When we stir the pot in question period after allegations, I’m not sure that we respect democratic institutions and the separation between the state and the judiciary,” Vallée said while in a parliamentary committee on her ministry.

Francoeur, who is president of the Montreal Police Brotherhood, claimed last Thursday that two Liberal MNAs, including one that’s still sitting in the National Assembly, escaped a criminal investigation in 2012.

They were apparently wiretapped in the course of a fraud and influence-peddling investigation, but the investigation did not lead to legal proceedings because the case was blocked at the top, suggested Francoeur.

With the chief prosecutor Annick Murphy by her side, Vallée said that politicizing the work of the DPCP should be avoided.

She urged the union leader to contact prosecutors, who have still not received any information from him, four days after they asked him for his collaboration. The minister defended Murphy and blamed opposition parties.

“If, on the contrary, what Francoeur alleges is justified, he should report the facts as soon as possible, because the harm done to the institution is serious, and those who feed on his words also harm the institution,” Vallée said.