The summer will be hot in terms of security in Montreal, the Plante administration predicted on Tuesday, although it is relying on its new police chief to limit the damage.

Fady Dagher and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) have been preparing for a long time for the next few months, assured the elected official responsible for public security on the executive committee, Alain Vaillancourt. He was speaking to the city council.

“Yes, we’re going to have a hot summer. Everyone recognizes it. But we’ve been working on it for months,” Vaillancourt said. You have to “trust the new chief, trust the SPVM, who have been working on the file for months. »

“Everything is in place for people’s safety,” he added. “The safety of Montrealers is not only in July that we have to take care of it. »

Mr. Vaillancourt was responding to a question from opposition elected official Abdelhaq Sari, who is concerned about the lack of staff at the SPVM. “This administration has still not presented any summer plans, as Laval has done and as requested,” he lamented. “If we had a summer plan with staff, with patrols present on the ground, that could reassure the population. »

Mr. Sari laments that Montreal will enter the summer “without a workforce up to the challenges and without a game plan” in terms of public safety.