Contract for C$100,000 Reportedly Offered for Canadian Reporter’s Assassination

A Montreal newspaper, La Presse, has disclosed that a contract worth C$100,000 ($71,400; £56,000) was proposed for the murder of one of its crime reporters. Frédérick Silva, a convicted killer, admitted to La Presse that he had put out the contract for Daniel Renaud, a journalist who was reporting on Silva’s 2021 trial for three murders and an attempted murder. Silva received his conviction in 2022 and subsequently became a police informant. Quebec Premier François Legault denounced the scheme, stating, “It makes no sense that in Quebec – we are not in a movie – there is a contract placed on the head of a journalist because he does his job.” He further remarked, “This is not the Quebec we want,” and emphasized the necessity for the province’s police to persist in targeting organized crime. La Presse reported that Silva was required to disclose his complete criminal history to become an informant for the authorities. The newspaper indicated it discovered the plot against Mr. Renaud after examining Silva’s confession to the police. Silva acknowledged reaching out to two prominent organized crime figures regarding Mr. Renaud’s assassination while he was on trial in 2021. Silva stated that these figures expressed hesitation, deeming it unwise to target a journalist. The “contract” remained active for approximately two months but was never executed, as reported by La Presse. Silva ultimately rescinded the order, explaining that he had “more important issues to deal with.” He is currently serving a life sentence in prison. Mr. Renaud informed La Presse that he felt “shaken” by these disclosures. He commented, “I don’t censor myself, but I always exercise restraint so I don’t reveal details about the private lives of criminals and avoid putting lives in danger. So I never thought that I could have ended up the subject of a contract like this.” Vincent Marissal, a former colleague of Mr. Renaud and now an elected provincial politician representing the left-wing Québec Solidaire, described the journalist as a “very rigorous person – not the type of guy who makes a lot of noise in the newsroom but apparently he can cause a lot of bother.“That means he’s doing his job, but that’s certainly no reason to see a price put on his head.”