Quebec Bars Face Extortion Wave, Plead for Government Action

0:00It's April 20th. This is Canada News Today. Local news powered by AI. Quebec's bar owners are sounding the alarm on a brutal extortion wave hitting spots across the province. The group representing bars, breweries and taverns, known as CPBBTQ, wants the government to hit pause on cutting video lottery commissions and bring. Back a key police consultation committee. It kicked off in Montreal months ago and it spread fast to places like the South Shore, Longwill, Laval and the North Shore. Their president, Renaud Poulin, says it's not slowing down. In fact, it's ramping up. And this is their second big push to the government this year. Alone. Owners are dealing with gunfire at their buildings, Molotov cocktails, straight-up threats and demands for protection cash. Many won't even report it out of fear, so the real numbers are murky, but the fallout is real. Extra security bills piling up in some bars. Straight-up shutting doors. Poulin figures delaying that lottery commission drop could free up thousands of dollars per

1:01spot to beef up defenses. He's pushing hard for a confidential chat group with cops, like the not-turn setup from the early 2000s that shut down a similar mess back. Then, with bars on the brink, the pressures on Quebec leaders to step up before this crisis spirals even further out of control.