Laval police caught muddying cars in apparent Bill 3 protest
Man who posted video to Facebook says officers were dirtying cars to protest proposed pension reforms
Laval police are investigating after a video was posted to Facebook that shows two of their squad cars racing through a muddy construction site and spattering a third cruiser parked nearby.
Charles Ledoux posted the video on August 1. He wrote that he filmed the incident at 6 a.m. and that the cruisers repeated the action three times. The video has since been taken down.
The officers were dirtying their cars in an apparent protest against the Quebec government’s proposed pension reform legislation, Bill 3, wrote Ledoux, who added that the speed limit at the construction site was 10 km/h.
Municipal workers across Quebec have been employing pressure tactics to protest against the proposed legislation, which would see municipal employees and cities evenly split the cost of pension plan deficits.
Municipal Affairs Minister Pierre Moreau has pegged the deficits at nearly $4 billion across the province.
- Quebec aims to reform pension plans of municipal workers
- Quebec municipal employees stop work to protest pension bill
- Montreal police call in sick to protest pension reforms
In Montreal, those tactics include police plastering their squad cars with anti-Bill 3 stickers and ditching their uniforms, instead donning red baseball caps and camouflage pants.
Force investigates, union empathizes
Laval police confirmed to CBC News that the squad cars are theirs and said they are investigating the actions seen in the video.
Laval police Chief Insp. Andre Python said it's too soon to know if the officers involved will face disciplinary action.
He said the apparent misconduct in the video is not indicative of the force as a whole, adding that the service expects officers to carry out their duties with professionalism.
Marc Ranger, spokesman for a coalition representing thousands of unionized municipal workers from across Quebec, said he couldn't condemn the actions captured in the video.
"Right now our membership are pissed off about [Bill 3]. They have the sense that it will steal their pension fund. So people are not only upset, but they're mad," he said.
"If the government doesn't change Bill 3, this could get worse," he added.