Hitman offers $71,000 for murder of Canadian reporter

A hitman offered 100,000 Canadian dollars ($71,400; £56,000) for the murder of a crime reporter at Montreal newspaper La Presse, media reported.

Convicted murderer Frédérick Silva admitted to La Presse that he offered contracts to anyone willing to carry out the attack on Daniel Renaud, who was pursuing his trial for three murders and one attempted murder in 2021.

Silva was convicted in 2022 and became a police informant.

Quebec Premier François Legault condemned the plot. “In Quebec – we’re not in a movie – it makes no sense to put a contract on a journalist for doing their job,” he said.

“This is not the Quebec we want,” he said, adding that provincial police must continue to target organized crime.

According to La Presse, Silva had to confess his entire criminal past in order to become an informant to the authorities. The publication said it learned of the plot against Mr. Renaud after reviewing Silva’s confession to police.

While on trial in 2021, Silva admitted that he had contacted two influential organized crime figures about assassinating Mr Renaud.

According to Silva, the numbers were hesitant and said targeting a journalist was a bad idea.

La Presse reported that the “contract” had been in effect for about two months but was never fulfilled. He said Silva eventually canceled the order because he had “more important issues to deal with.”

Silva is currently serving a life sentence.

Mr Renaud told La Presse he was “shaken” by the statements.

“I do not censor myself, but I always exercise restraint in order not to reveal details about the private lives of criminals and not to endanger their lives. Therefore, I never thought that I would be the subject of such a contract,” he said.

Vincent Marissal, a former colleague of Mr. Renaud who is now an elected provincial politician with the left-wing Québec Solidaire, described the journalist as “a very meticulous person — not the type of guy who makes a lot of noise in the newsroom, but apparently he can cause a lot of trouble .

“That means he’s doing his job, but that’s certainly no reason to put a bounty on his head.”