MONTREAL -- Quebec's federation of municipal police forces is asking the provincial government for $788 million to address what they describe as a funding gap between their forces and Quebec provincial police.

Most Quebec cities and towns have a choice when it comes to policing between using their own municipal forces or contracting out to the Surete du Quebec.

President Francois Lemay said today that Quebec is operating with a two-tier system that forces most cities with their own police forces to assume the entire bill for their services, while cities served by provincial police get 47 per cent of the costs reimbursed.

He told reporters in Laval that this happens even though cities with their own police still end up paying for provincial police coverage of surrounding territories through tax dollars.

Montreal pays almost $790 million per year on policing with no help from the province.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante spoke about the unique position the city is in and the need to increase resources.

"We're the only police corp with a category five, which covers things that other types of police corps don't deal with: terrorism or cyber-attacks or how we manage, for example, protest walks," said Plante. "Our needs are quite important... There has to be a better understanding and some resources that come with it."

Plante said Montreal needs help and she's shared her concern with those in the provincial government.

"It would be fair for Montreal to get more resources," she said.

This funding gap, Lemay said, is one of the reasons the number of city police forces has shrunk from 120 to 33 in recent decades.

Chateauguay Mayor Pierre-Paul Routhier said the situation is complicated and unfair. He said cities like his that are located in the metropolitan region of Montreal are forced by law to have their own local police.

"We cannot have a choice of joining or using the Surete du Quebec," he said.

"I'm fine with the fact that we have to get our own municipal police, that's fine, but if we could get the subsidy that cities like Drummondville and Rimouski are getting that are a lot bigger than us actually, then we would be entitled to have a lot more fairness to our citizens," he said. "Our citizens that are paying the full cost of municipal police through their municipal taxes are also paying the Surete du Quebec through their income tax. There's something unfair there, and I'm really pleased that the federation raised that flag today."

Lemay said the Quebec government is planning to increase the reimbursement for provincial police to 50 per cent by 2020, which would increase the amount reimbursed from $300 million to $375 million, while municipal forces will get nothing.

Routhier said adding $10 million to a city like Chateauguay's budget would be huge.

"Our annual budget is $95 million, so we're pretty close to 10 per cent," he said. "Imagine if we would have 10 per cent more flexibility to be able to help people to provide more services or even to lower the taxes."

Routhier added that his citizens prefer a local force, and wouldn't want an SQ force in the municipality, but that he would like to see a more fair system in place.

"We are close to our police," he said.

The federation represents 33 police forces serving 5.5 million residents and includes three Indigenous police forces operating in the province's north. 

With reporting from The Canadian Press.