A Quebec whistleblower is among those who's pleased with the province's announcement of a public inquiry into police espionage of journalists.
Ken Pereira used to be a union organizer who testified at the Charbonneau Commision looking into the awarding of contracts within the construction industry.
He learned how the mafia controlled the Quebec Federation of Labour and how former boss, Jocelyn Dupuis, stole more than $60,000 from the union.
Among other things, Pereira was offered hush money as well as luxury cars, even strippers, but, instead, chose to tell his story.
Even then, however, he discovered police really wanted to know which reporters he was squealling to.
"A lot of them wanted to know what Radio-Canada, what TVA, what CTV was working on when they went to see me. So what does that mean? That means, you know, they were trying to get
some information that they couldn't get from their own lines", Pereira told CTV.
Pereira added he believes if reporters can be spied on, whistleblowers will hestitate before going public.
- With files from CTV News