Service de Police de la Ville de Québec

Possible transit chaos, Twain gift in busy FEQ buildup

Local Journalism Initiative / The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph / July 1, 2025 / Festival d'été de Québec, food security, Peter Black, Quebec City, Réseau de transport de la Capitale, Ruby Pratka, Service de Police de la Ville de Québec, Shania Twain

Possible transit chaos, police weapons upgrade, Twain gift in busy FEQ buildup

Peter Black and Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative reporters

The 57th edition of the Festival d’été de Québec opens July 3 with another sell-out of the 11-day event, but with the threat of a transit strike looming and the presence of police carrying assault weapons.

Known as Canada’s biggest summer music gathering, with upwards of 200 shows on six stages, including the mammoth Bell stage on the Plains of Abraham, FEQ will welcome up to 80,000 fans for headliner performances.

This year’s marquee biggies include Canadian megastars Shania Twain and Avril Lavigne, as well as legendary crooner Rod Stewart, breakout American pop heartthrob Benson Boone and classic British rock band Def Leppard.

Just as a point of novelty, the program features Canadian pop star Alessia Cara, not to be confused with up-and-coming Quebec singer Alissa Clara.

This year, the alternating stages return to Place George-V in front of the armoury, where one highly anticipated show will be a tribute to the 30th anniversary of Céline Dion’s record-breaking D’eux album, featuring a parade of Quebec vedettes.

Dozens of shows are free on stages across from the National Assembly and in Place D’Youville. There’s a program for children, called Petit FEQ, happening on weekends.

Twain, perhaps the festival’s biggest draw this year, is not just bringing her top-selling repertoire to Quebec City. As part of her Shania Twain Foundation, the superstar is funding some 375,000 meals for people facing food insecurity.

Each of five tour cities – Calgary, Moose Jaw, Ottawa, Toronto and Quebec City – will receive a $25,000 donation for food programs. Twain plays the second Saturday show of FEQ on July 12.

A late replacement to the lineup is indie rocker Lauren Spencer Smith, subbing in for British singer/model Suki Waterhouse, who cancelled her gig opening for the Irish fusion band Hosier on the Bell stage on July 10.

New weaponry for city police

While most circumstances of the festival have stayed the same, one new and possibly disturbing element would be the presence of city police officers carrying the HK 416 semi-automatic assault rifle.

The Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ) will deploy a certain number of officers trained in the use of the weapon as both a tactical device and a deterrent.

Capt. Alain Bernier, the officer in charge of weapons training, told Le Journal de Québec the guns “will provide increased precision, range, and ballistic capability compared to the service weapon. We will be able to take action more effectively and from a distance that would normally be inaccessible to us.”

The report said the SPVQ made the decision in response to recent incidents of vehicles driving into crowds, such as in Vancouver and New Orleans.

The SVPQ says the weapons had been available for use in the past, but for the first time, officers will be making them visible.

As yet unconfirmed is whether the city will also install vehicle-intrusion barriers for FEQ, as is the case in a pilot project on Rue Saint-Jean this summer.

Bus strike still possible

As this newspaper went to press on June 30, the threat of a transit maintenance workers’ strike, which would paralyze Réseau du transport de la Capitale (RTC) bus service, still hung over the festival. Unless an agreement is announced by 3 p.m. on July 3, the strike could begin as early as July 4, the second day of FEQ, and continue through July 13, shutting down both regular bus service and shuttles to the festival, Valérie Drolet, executive director of network development and customer experience at the RTC, told a City Hall press conference on June 30.

She noted that the strike could last anywhere from one day to the full ten, and service would return to normal gradually after a strike. “As soon as the RTC knows the union’s intentions, all its communication and information channels will be activated to inform regular customers and festival-goers,” Drolet said, adding that riders who bought Festibus passes and tickets would be reimbursed in the event of a strike. She would not comment on the ongoing negotiations.

The QCT requested an in- terview with a representative from the maintenance workers’ union – the Syndicat des salariés et salariées d’entretien du RTC–CSN – through several channels but did not receive a response by press time.

The àVélo bike sharing program, Flexibus service and adapted transit services will not be affected in the event of a strike, although the city is anticipating increased demand for those services. An additional àVélo station will be set up near the Joan of Arc Garden for the festival. The city will also put in place pick-up and drop-off zones for cars at the Gare du Palais and along Ave. Brown between René-Lévesque and Grande Allée.

City officials and FEQ organizers advised people driving to the festival to consider carpooling and leave plenty of time – at least an hour – to find parking. “We want people to get on board and come have fun with us, and I think that’s going to happen, but you just need to take a little more time to get there,” said FEQ CEO Nicolas Racine.

For up-to-date information on FEQ, go to the festival website at feq.ca/en.

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City announces major public safety hiring spree

Local Journalism Initiative / The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph / November 27, 2024 / Bruno Marchand, public safety, Quebec City, Quebec City fire department, Ruby Pratka, Service de Police de la Ville de Québec

City announces major public safety hiring spree

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The Ville de Québec has announced plans for a record increase in the number of police officers and firefighters to keep pace with the growing population, city officials announced last week.

Mayor Bruno Marchand made the announcement on Nov. 19 at City Hall, flanked by Police Chief Denis Turcotte and Fire Chief Christian Paradis. The city plans to hire 101 new police officers and 72 new firefighters by the end of 2026, not counting normal retirement-related turnover – an increase of about 10 per cent – at a combined total cost of about $15 million including equipment. Marchand said the hiring spree was “the biggest wave of new hires at the [Service de Police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ)] in the past 25 years.” The cost will be borne entirely by the city.

“We have public safety at heart and we have to act in consequence,” Marchand said. “A feeling of safety, and safety itself, are sine qua non conditions for citizens to feel safe. The city has changed a lot since the early 2000s and the police and fire departments have to follow the rhythm. The population has gone up by 16 per cent, the police respond to 9,000 more calls per year, and we now welcome 4.3 mil- lion tourists a year. It seems banal … but it brings about a packet of challenges for our police and fire departments. … We want to act fast, to act in prevention, we don’t want to wait for a crisis.”

Marchand, Turcotte and Paradis cited the rising population, homelessness-related challenges, concerns about organized crime and stricter fire safety standards among the reasons new hires are necessary. “We’re sending a message that criminals aren’t welcome, that we want to live by the rule of law and make people feel secure,” said Marchand.

“As a police service, our engagement is to maintain people’s sense of safety … which is a precious asset,” said Turcotte. “If we’re proactive and we take the necessary measures, we’ll keep that trust.” He thanked city officials for responding to the SPVQ’s request for reinforcements, saying that the additional staff would improve the police service’s prevention and data collection capacity. Turcotte and Paradis said they were confident they would find enough new recruits to meet staffing targets.

“This is a very significant gesture, and we’re grateful,” said Paradis. “The population is going to benefit from this increased level of service. We aren’t playing catch-up, we’re planning ahead.”

Turcotte said police officers planned to meet with business owners in the coming weeks to discuss the potential impact of a greater police presence in their neighbourhoods.

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City, province differ on approach to organized crime

Local Journalism Initiative / The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph / September 25, 2024 / Bruno Marchand, crime and justice, François Bonnardel, policing, Quebec City, Ruby Pratka, Service de Police de la Ville de Québec

City, province differ on approach to organized crime

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Mayor Bruno Marchand and Public Safety Minister François Bonnardel agree that an increased police presence is necessary to crack down on a recent uptick in gun violence in the city and surrounding areas, much of it linked to organized crime. They disagree on who should provide the personnel and how the operation should be funded.

Marchand has pressed the provincial government for greater funding for the Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ). Bonnardel, for his part, has resisted calls for more money for the SPVQ but repeatedly offered to send Sûreté du Québec (SQ) officers to the city as reinforcements.

Bonnardel wrote a letter to Marchand on Sept. 20, which was shared with several media outlets. “I am, like you, deeply concerned by the recent demonstrations of armed violence in the Capitale-Nationale and its surroundings. However, these events to which you refer are associated with organized crime and raise issues that not only go beyond the strict limits of your territory, but also require national-level police co-ordination in the interventions carried out to combat this phenomenon – a clearly established jurisdiction of the Sûreté du Québec,” the letter said.

The letter was sent to Marchand’s office minutes before a scheduled City Hall press conference the same day, and the mayor hadn’t received it before he met with reporters.

The day of the press conference, the SPVQ and the Service de Police de Lévis were among dozens of municipal police services working in collaboration with the SQ on a provincewide crackdown on organized crime.

“We have no problem collaborating with the SQ, on mixed units, on collaborative projects,” the mayor said. “We do that already. We help them, they help us, they do their job very well and we have a lot of respect for them. But the SPVQ doesn’t need the SQ beyond the collaboration we’re already doing. We need additional resources for the city police to do work that is ongoing, not for a week, not for a month, but sustainably. We have been attacking organized crime for a long time.”

Earlier this year, the SPVQ released statistics showing a 6.6 per cent increase in violent crime in the city from 2022 to 2023, and a 29 per cent increase in “crimes against persons” between 2020 and 2023. The Quebec Liberal Party is among those backing Marchand’s call for increased funding for the municipal police service. “I find it very surprising that [Bonnardel] is talking about calling in the SQ when they have a major personnel shortage themselves. The city needs constant support, and that’s not going to happen if [the Quebec government] sends the SQ in once,” said Liberal public security critic Jennifer Maccarone. “It isn’t fair to compare Quebec City to Montreal and Laval – it’s not the same situation at all, but you need to trust the city if they are saying they need support. The government needs to have a conversation with the mayor – not just to stand up and say no, but to listen.”

Marchand appreciated the support, telling reporters, “So much the better; [crime prevention] should be a trans-partisan issue.”

“We aren’t in the same situation as Montreal, but we don’t want to wait for the situation to get worse,” Marchand said. “We have a good police service. I believe in them and I thank them. We need more resources to help them, and I hope the provincial government will be present present for that.” As of Sept. 23, media reports suggested that despite the disagreement, the Ville de Québec intended to accept the offer of SQ assistance.

Chief Denis Turcotte of the SPVQ declined to comment. Martine Fortier, president of the city’s police union, told Radio-Canada the union sup- ported Marchand’s demands, but that the mayor “can’t hide behind the fact that he’s being refused additional funding.” She would not go into detail on the union’s demands due to ongoing negotiations.

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