The offices of La Presse are shown in Montreal, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL - Political leaders and press freedom groups on Friday were left shell-shocked after Montreal news outlet La Presse revealed that a hit man had offered $100,000 to have one of its crime reporters assassinated.

Convicted killer Frédérick Silva, who turned police informant in 2022, had confessed to issuing the murder contract on investigative reporter Daniel Renaud, La Presse said.

The news outlet said Silva, known for carrying out multiple murders over the years for organized crime groups, ordered the hit on Renaud in 2021, when the reporter was covering Silva's trial on three murders and one attempted murder.

And while the hit ordered on Renaud was never carried out, Friday's revelations reverberated through Quebec's political and journalist classes, and raised questions about whether reporters who investigate criminals are adequately protected.

Quebec Premier François Legault denounced the plot against Renaud, saying, “It doesn’t make sense that in Quebec — we are not in a movie — that in Quebec there’s a contract that was placed on a journalist’s head because he did his job."

Education Minister Bernard Drainville, who in 2021 was working in radio, said Renaud had been a guest on his show. “If this journalist, who is very rigorous, had his life threatened … you can’t help but think of other journalists who investigate crime," he said.

Drainville also asked whether journalists investigating criminals should receive police protection. "I find this very concerning for our democracy," he said.

As an informant, Silva agreed to meet with police to help them with multiple homicide investigations, and was forced to reveal his criminal activities. La Presse said it learned of the contract against Renaud after reviewing the confessions the killer made to police.

Silva had proposed luring the reporter to a location on a false promise of giving him information about gang shootings, and then killing him, the news outlet revealed. La Presse said the bounty was active for two months before Silva, who is serving a life sentence in prison, cancelled the hit to focus on "more important issues."

Éric-Pierre Champagne, president of Quebec's professional journalists association, said he was "shocked and surprised" by the revelations. He recalled the attempted assassination of journalist Michel Auger, who was shot multiple times in the back in the parking lot of the Journal de Montréal in 2000 — which put enormous pressure on organized crime.

“We believed — perhaps wrongly — that it was over," he said of violence toward reporters. "But finally we see that maybe it isn’t the case."

Other political leaders denounced the hit ordered on Renaud, with Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy, who has been the subject of death threats and was placed under police protection for a time, struggling through heavy silence when asked to react.

“Imagine when you and your family don't feel safe to do your own work, when your work is not only relevant, it's necessary for a healthy democracy. If there are no more checks and balances, if there’s no one left to ask questions, then we can turn off the lights,” she told reporters at the Quebec legislature.

Québec solidaire legislature member Vincent Marissal said he was “horrified” and called for solidarity with Renaud and other journalists.

Speaking to La Presse, Renaud said the threat on his life will not stop his work. "We must continue to cover organized crime in Quebec, to shine a light on this clandestine part of society."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2024.

— With files from Pierre Saint-Arnaud in Montreal.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2024