Montreal police union suspends camouflage pants protest until Friday
Officers have been wearing the colourful pants since 2014 as part of a pressure tactic against pension reform
Montreal's police union has announced it will temporarily suspend its policy of having officers wear camouflage pants as a form of protest — but only until Friday.
A press release announcing the change came out Monday evening and specified it would come into effect that same night.
It stated that the suspension of the pressure tactic was a way for the union to reach out to the city, after positive contract negotiations. The Montreal police have been without a contract since 2015 and are in the midst of an intensive round of bargaining.
The move affects 4,600 officers. Montreal's police fraternity would not offer further comment.
In April, Quebec Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux tabled a bill to put an end to police wearing camouflage pants — something they've been doing since 2014 as a form of protest.
At the time, Coiteux called the pants "unacceptable" and said his patience was wearing thin, but the Liberals were unable to pass the bill before this spring's legislative session wrapped.
The protest began when Philippe Couillard's Liberal government introduced municipal pension reform which would see municipal workers and retirees contribute more to their pensions to offset a $4-billion pension fund deficit at the time.
This isn't the first time police have gone back to their normal uniform temporarily — they did so during the funeral for NHL legend Jean Béliveau in 2014 and the funeral for René Angelil in 2016.
They were however heavily criticized for remaining in the colourful, unauthorized pants for the funeral of former Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau in 2015.