Parti au Service du Citoyen and Mouvement lavallois reaction

For the Parti au Service du Citoyen, it’s an exercise in deceit. For the Mouvement lavallois, the new budget is a collection of “old, broken and recycled promises” done up in new packaging.

“It’s an electoral budget,” says PSC leader Robert Bordeleau, although the next municipal election takes place not next year, but nearly two years from now. He claims the Vaillancourt administration isn’t being truthful when it says the average residential tax increase will be only 1.4 per cent.

“It’s based only on houses worth $255,000, so that means that all the big houses will have a pretty big increase.” Bordeleau maintains that a more accurate picture of the city’s overall fiscal situation would show that over the past five years, taxes in Laval actually increased between 15 and 18 per cent for most property owners.
The Mouvement lavallois issued a statement in which the party’s leading members reacted to the budget. ML mayoral candidate Lydia Aboulian noted that while monthly STL passes are going up by $2.50, the transit agency will be spending millions on feasibility studies. While the city has set aside a considerable amount to buy green spaces this year, a veil of secrecy hangs over which properties are being acquired, says ML president David De Cotis.
Laval continues to neglect local skating and hockey rinks, says ML candidate Emilio Migliozzi, while pointing out that the city has set aside $10 million for its downtown sports and recreation complex. ML candidate Raynald Adams says the city’s decision to create a new office to oversee large projects is an admission that something was seriously wrong with the system in the first place.