Ottawa-Vanier by-election candidate André Marin says the record number of shootings in the Capital this year is a result of provincial meddling.
Speaking on CFRA's Ottawa Now with Evan Solomon, the Tory candidate said the Province removing $300,000 in funding for Ottawa's Direct Action Response Team is linked to a rise in violent crime.
"As soon as that small amount of funding was taken away from the DART unit, the shootings sky-rocketed," Marin said, citing a conversation he had with police officers and a crown prosecutor.
Marin believes the Province should provide "strings-attached" funding to the City in order to tackle gang violence.
"The Liberals are saying 'the money has been reallocated to prevention,'" Marin said. "Well, when you're dealing with 59 shootings, it's obviously not working and we believe the money should be reallocated, with strings attached, so that it's used directly for frontline officers."
But Police Services Board Chair, Councillor Eli El-Chantiry, also speaking on Ottawa Now, says Marin is in the wrong.
"I hope Mr. Marin would ask me first, to explain to him, before he goes on the radio to say the wrong thing," El-Chantiry said.
El-Chantiry says while the Province did cut $300,000 from the DART, it also uploaded court security costs, which freed up $617,000 for the Ottawa Police Service.
"We're hiring 25 new police officers," El-Chantiry said, speaking of the Ottawa Police draft budget, tabled Monday. "The money we are saving from here and there was reinvested in new bodies."
"It's really too bad Mr. Marin didn't call me to clarify this before, because we get more from the Province with the upload than the reduction, so I don't think that's fair to say," El-Chantiry said.
El-Chantiry would not say whether the new officers would go to DART. He says they'll go wherever the service needs them.
Ottawa-Vanier votes November 17.