Investigators are raiding several locations, including Montreal City Hall, according to a UPAC spokeswoman. (Joël Simard-Ménard/Twitter)
Quebec's anti-corruption squad is raiding seven municipal offices across Montreal, including city hall.
The raids started at around 4 p.m. at Montreal City Hall, where all elected officials were told to leave the building.
Louise Harel, the leader of Vision Montreal, said it wasn't clear at first what was going on.
"We'll certainly learn more in the hours to come," she said. "It's exceptional – the City of Montreal the subject of raids. I've certainly never seen it."
Projet Montréal's Richard Bergeron said he had a meeting with the mayor at 4:15 p.m. to discuss the "cultural mosaic."
"When I arrived at his office, it was clear what was important at Montreal City Hall right now wasn't the cultural mosaic," he said.
"There are a lot of UPAC [the province's anti-corruption unit] members inside city hall. We got an order to leave the building and we left."
He said those inside city hall were told to take only their coats with them as the building was evacuated.
A spokeswoman for UPAC said investigators are questioning about 25 people and no arrests are expected.
Six other borough offices are also being searched. They include:
"The lack of an immediate threat does not in any way shape or form should be allowed to reduce the recognition of the long-term threat of this material reaching the ground water or the Columbia River," Governor Jay Inslee said Saturday.
The U.S. Department of Energy has confirmed liquid levels are dropping in one of nearly 200 underground tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, about 400 kilometres southeast of Vancouver.
While there's no immediate risk to human health, critics worry it's only a matter of time until the toxic sludge finds its way into regional food systems.
Tom Carpenter, executive director of Hanford Challenge, a non-profit that monitors the nuclear reservation said state officials are now waiting for the federal government to patch the leak.
Carpenter said a plan is in place to drain the tanks and solidify the waste into glass, but the treatment plant meant to do the work has been plagued with problems.
"Mismanagement, short-range-thinking, profiteering by contractors and incompetence by the government agency that's supposed to be running this plant," said Carpenter.
Over the years, more than a million gallons of radioactive waste have already leaked into the ground at Hanford.
Carpenter said plutonium has already been detected in local fish stocks and worries that if changes don't come soon, wild salmon stocks could be next.
He said his organization is now asking the U.S. Congress for help.
| 13th Prime Minister of Canada | |
|---|---|
| In office - June 21, 1957 – April 22, 1963 |
