‘Opération Marteau...’
SQ’s Opération Marteau gets approval from ex-cop Guy Ouellette
Published November 4, 2009
By Martin C. Barry • TLN

“Police work and politics should never be mixed,” says Chomedey Liberal MNA Guy Ouellette, confirming that he stands behind the Charest government’s decision not to hold an immediate public inquiry into corruption in Quebec’s construction industry, but to allow the Sûreté du Québec to conduct Operation Marteau, a wide-ranging investigation instead.
Police must work: Ouellette
“It’s really important to let the police do their job,” Ouellette, a former SQ investigator who was part of a special squad that targeted the Hells Angels, told the Laval News. “The police showed in the past that they can dismantle networks,” he said. “We need to arrest people, we need to dismantle the networks, we need to have things changed. We’re not closing the door to a public inquiry, but for now we need to let the police do their job.”
The announcement of Opération Marteau was made at SQ headquarters in Montreal by Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis, Labour Minister Sam Hamad and Revenue Minister Robert Dutil. Sixty personnel from the SQ will be assisted by others at the RCMP, the Régie du bâtiment du Québec and the Commission de la construction du Québec, which oversee construction. The government decided to mandate the police operation in view of the success the SQ had breaking up the Hells Angels with the escouade Carcajou, of which Ouellette had been a member.
Ménard: No comment
Nine years ago when the Liberals sat in the National Assembly’s Opposition benches, Dupuis, who was then the party’s critic for the public security dossier, spent weeks rising in the chamber to demand that PQ Public Security Minister Serge Ménard convene a public inquiry into the troubles being caused at the time by the Hells Angels. Ménard, who represented the riding of Laval-des-Rapides at the time, decided to launch Carcajou instead.
“If Mr. Ménard had said yes to a public inquiry in 2000, we would not have been able at that time to dismantle the network of the Hells Angels or stop the biker war which was responsible for 165 deaths,” Ouellette said this week. Ménard, who now represents the federal riding of Marc-Aurèle-Fortin for the Bloc Québécois, declined to comment on the creation of Opération Marteau when asked by the Laval News.
Mixing police and politics
Ouellette said proceeding with a police investigation will “protect” people coming forward with proof of criminal activity in the construction sector, whereas a public inquiry now would “contaminate” the evidence. “There’s already an investigation on the way and others that are nearing their conclusion,” he said. “We need to be very cautious not to jeopardize the results of these investigations that will help sanitize the system and rid it of bad guys who commit criminal offences. Police work and politics should never be mixed. We need to let the police do their job and after that we need as politicians to give them tools to make sure they will complete their mission.”
Asked whether he had received specific information leading him to believe there is a need for Opération Marteau, Ouellette replied, “I’ve not been debriefed personally, but based on past experience, being a cop for 32 years, I’m quite sure there are a lot of investigations going on in every sector, not just in Montreal. There have been a couple of reports in Laval and there are investigations that have been launched in different parts of Quebec.” As part of Opération Marteau, the SQ has created a special phone line for persons who may have information about criminal practices in the construction sector: 1-888-444-1701.