Montreal police ordered to issue tickets 'as usual'

Quebec's labour relations board has ordered the city’s police union to call on its members to issue tickets as “normal and usual” after the City of Montreal argued they were not.

The hearing was requested by the City of Montreal on Wednesday in order to address what it said were disguised pressure tactics by the union in its fight against the Quebec government’s proposed municipal pension reform legislation, Bill 3.

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City officials alleged that officers said the number of tickets issued was down by 35 per cent between July 2013 and 2014.

“Is it because people are driving more cautiously? We think that it has a direct link with pressure tactics,” he said.

City officials argued that the drop in tickets was putting the safety of Montrealers and their right to police services at risk.

The City also alleged that police officers engaged in "the unauthorized movement of vehicles and mobile workstations" and that such movements were preventing officers from doing their jobs.

Yves Francoeur, head of Montreal’s police union, said the complaint was never voiced to the union before the hearing.

He denied that the union had called on its members to lay off issuing tickets.

“We have a very good defence, and that is the fact we never issued an order regarding tickets,” he said.

The labour relations board gave the union until September 22 to notify its members of the ruling.

The hearing came on the heels of similar one between the City of Montreal and its firefighters' union, which city officials accused of delaying response times to fires.

In that case, the labour board also ordered the firefighters' union to call on its members to ensure response times are "normal and usual."