The calm before the storm

There was renewed tension during question period in Laval city council on Sept 7, when the two leaders of the opposition parties who ran against Mayor Vaillancourt in the last election were ordered to keep the peace by council speaker Francine Légaré.
The meeting, which opened with a minute of silence in memory of Claude Béchard who died on Sept. 7, was attended by about 50 people. Quickly reaching the question period, Mayor Vaillancourt answered a number of troubling questions from residents of Place Brazeau in Pont-Viau, who had to live with overflowing sewers several times over the past summer.
“All our efforts are concentrated on finding a solution,” insisted the mayor, while adding that a firm of experts was mandated to find the cause of the problem, which could take five to six weeks. “I have only sympathy for you, you have all my sympathy, but I can’t perform miracles,” he added to a very insistent and worried resident who was concerned about not being able to obtain any more refunds from her insurance company if the problem persists.
Former electoral candidate Émilio Migliozzi asked Councillor Jacques Saint-Jean if any new action was taken to prevent the cutting of uncultivated trees without a permit, as was the case in 2009 with Jean-Guy Hamelin, owner of Gestion Immelin. Hamelin had mowed down nearly 12 hectares of forest, including some in a marsh land, and evaded paying approximately $500 in fines that the city claimed from him when he showed he had a building permit. Migliozzi also asked Saint-Jean if a permit was issued for construction at another marsh land, which he said is now taking place.
While the first question was ignored, Vaillancourt responded to the second, saying that he hadn’t “any answer for tonight, but I will answer you as soon as possible.”
“Mister Mayor doesn’t want to answer the questions, which is why we put them to Mr. Saint-Jean, who has not responded either,” complained Migliozzi, Mouvement lavallois president David de Cotis and Lydia Aboulian, former mayoral candidate for the party, as they left city hall. “The only answers we’ve gotten from Mayor Vaillancourt are ‘I will answer you as soon as possible,’ but some questions remain unanswered after nearly a year, and we’ve heard nothing.”

No preambles at city hall
“Mr. Bordeleau, we’ve had enough of your syllabus,” Légaré told Bordeleau, leader of the Parti au service du citoyen, who tried in vain to precede his question to the executive committee with a preamble. “You come here every month, and it’s always the same thing.” Fed up with the determination of Bordeleau to keep it up no matter what, Légaré ended the meeting before Bordeleau had finished reading a prepared text he wanted to read out.

A missed opportunity
David de Cotis, president of the Mouvement lavallois, was castigated by the council speaker during question period, as he was trying to qualify his question with some context concerning a decision by businessman and owner of SNF, Herbert Black, who decided to invest in Montreal East rather than Laval.
“Herbert Black was ready to invest $100 million in Laval, which would have created 500 jobs,” said De Cotis, adding that Mayor Vaillancourt had refused to return Black’s calls since June. “Now there’s even a risk of layoffs. The reason Mr. Black withdrew his project is the arrogance [of the city].”
“He called when I was absent or busy with another dossier,”replied the mayor. “I’ve already told Mr. Black that he could make an appointment. He answered that he was going to get in touch with an opposition party and make trouble for me.”
In a phone interview with Mon Laval, Black had much to say about the municipal administration, which he claimed makes its decisions based on contributions to the party. The businessman, who says he was openly welcomed in Montreal East, said there are no layoffs planned, but that certain jobs now in Laval will be transferred to Montreal, where 500 more jobs will be created. “It will all depend on how I am treated [by the administration of Laval] in the future,” he said. “If they continue to bother me, I will move my business elsewhere.”