Editing Front de libération du Québec (section)

== Decline ==
Police deterrence and flagging public support contributed to the decline of the FLQ. By 1971, the Montreal Police anti-terrorist unit had highly placed informants within the FLQ organization, a cell of seven members were arrested on 5 October, the one year anniversary of the Cross kidnapping,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bélanger |first=Claude |title=Quebec History |url=http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/chronos/october.htm |access-date=25 June 2024 |website=faculty.marianopolis.edu}}</ref> and in December 1971 four FLQ members were arrested by a police force.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Charlebois |first=Mathieu |date=16 September 2010 |title=Octobre 1970: chronologie d'une crise |url=https://lactualite.com/societe/octobre-1970-chronologie-dune-crise/ |access-date=25 June 2024 |website=L'actualité |language=fr-CA}}</ref>

The support and political capacity of the FLQ changed drastically during the 1970s. The FLQ immediately lost public support after the October crisis and the murder of Laporte.<ref name="Scott 2020"/> The general public overwhelmingly supported the emergency powers and the presence of the military in Quebec.<ref name="UReg">{{cite book |last1=Lonie |first1=Kelsey |last2=Zimmer |first2=Jonathon |last3=Safinuk |first3=Corey |title=Canada and the Challenges of Leadership |chapter=Terrorism in Canada: An Analysis of Pierre Trudeau's Response to the FLQ and the 1970 October Crisis |date=2023 |url=https://opentextbooks.uregina.ca/primeministersandcrisis/chapter/terrorism-in-canada/ |language=en}}</ref> Laporte's murder marked a crossroads in the political history of the FLQ. It helped sway public opinion towards more conventional forms of political participation and drove up popular support for the [[Parti Québécois]] (PQ).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Naidu |first1=M.V. |title=Democracy Versus Terrorism: FLQ Terrorism in Quebec, a Case Study |journal=Peace Research |date=1995 |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=1–15 |jstor=23607375 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23607375 |access-date=23 June 2024 |issn=0008-4697}}</ref>{{rp|2}}

The rise of the PQ attracted both active and would-be participants away from the FLQ. In December 1971, Pierre Vallières emerged after three years in hiding to announce that he was joining the PQ. In justifying his decision he described the FLQ as a "shock group" whose continued activities would only play into the hands of the forces of repression against which they were no match. Those members of the FLQ who had fled began returning to Canada from late 1971 until 1982, and most received light sentences for their offences.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ross |first1=Jeffrey Ian |last2=Gurr |first2=Ted Robert |title=Why Terrorism Subsides: A Comparative Study of Canada and the United States |journal=Comparative Politics |date=1989 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=405–426 |doi=10.2307/422005 |jstor=422005 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/422005 |issn=0010-4159}}</ref>{{rp|414}}