It's an interesting concept to focus a fund on a five-year strategy to eradicate the gangs. We have many similarities with Montreal in the nineties, though our situation is more complex. The estimate is 120 to 130 different gangs, smaller gangs of all shapes and sizes, ethnicities, backgrounds. It's a complex landscape, difficult to police.
As for resources, when compared with Toronto or Montreal, in respect of police per capita, we are about 450 short of Toronto and about 900 short of Montreal. To come up to metro Toronto's level of policing, I'd say we'd need to add about 500 police. If it's a five-year strategy, that's about $50 million a year, based on $100,000 per sworn officer. So it's a significant investment.
As Mayor Watts mentioned, we're all for carrying our share of the expenses. This is a significant additional investment that needs to be made. In Vancouver, we don't have a share being covered by the federal government right now. I think it would be a worthwhile conversation to pursue. If it's a 70-30 formula for policing generally, and we have federal and provincial support, and we're able to make the case that, as municipalities, this is an investment, I think we're still looking at a challenge.