MONT-TREMBLANT, QC -- Mont-Tremblant resident Danielle Adam is worried that if her tourist destination town loses its local police force, services will decline.
"The police take care of two municipalities - Mont Tremblant and Lac Tremblant Nord," she said. "If we switch to the SQ with the 1,495 KM, that's 20 municipalities."
Part of the town's proposal to hand over policing services to the SQ includes expanding the territory. The same number of officers would become responsible for patrolling a region six times larger than the one they have now.
"I'm concerned about the speed of service for my clientele," said Tim Hortons owner Peter Arzenshek. "The response times are going to go up. We're a tourist area and sometimes you get out of towners who are a little joyful on their vacations and they're very quick to respond. I call them, they're here in two minutes."
The municipality insists that the plan will not alter the quality of service.
"The security of our people is primary to the decision process, and we believe that moving to the SQ gives us the same level of security but a wider spectrum of opportunities," said Mont-Tremblant City Councillor Francois Marcoux.
It also will save money.
In a newspaper ad published this week, the town boasts the change would save taxpayers $2 million per year.
Some, however, argue the move has more to do with the difficult relationship the mayor has had with the department.
"Relations with police officers were hard and we know that, but you're not allowed to take a decision like that only for that kind of reason," said Federation of Municipal Police Unions (FPMQ) Francois Lemay.
Lemay said the union is suing the town to block the change.
Adam, meanwhile, has started a petition to have the issue be put to a referendum.
"It's not something that we have in our sights at all," said Marcoux.
