City encouraging residents not to cut lawn during ‘No Mow May’ for environment
The City of Laval managed to achieve a much higher percentage of the various goals it set for itself last year, beating previous records by a wide margin, Mayor Stéphane Boyer announced at the beginning of the May 7 meeting of Laval city council.
Improved performance
According to figures contained in the city’s 2023 performance report, the latest results stand in favourable contrast to past years when Laval often managed to achieve only 40 – 50 per cent of its goals – although the mayor pointed out that the city managed to raise the bar last year to 70 – 80 per cent per cent.
While he pointed out that Laval’s latest results are in line with those of other cities in Quebec, he said “this year set a record not only as regards Laval, but Quebec as a whole.
“They’re very good results. When we talk about projects now that succeed, that’s because it wasn’t always the case, when we used to plan something and for whatever reason it didn’t work out.”
Aquatic Complex progress
Among other things, Mayor Boyer noted that he recently visited the worksite of the city’s future Aquatic Complex (next to the Cosmodôme), which is set to be completed before the end of this year or in early 2025. “The work is proceeding very nicely and in keeping with work schedules,” he said.
When completed, according to the city, the facility will be up to world-class aquatic competition standards and will be able to host events such as competitive swimming, synchronized swimming, diving and water polo.
The council meeting’s extraordinarily lengthy agenda included some $200 million in expenditures being made by the city, especially for the resurfacing of Laval’s extensive network of residential and arterial streets and boulevards, including boulevard des Mille-Îles in the Saint-François district.
Record-setting blood donor
During a segment of the meeting reserved for new issues, executive-committee vice-president Ray Khalil drew attention to the presence in the council chamber of Marcel Rolland. He recently signed the City of Laval’s Golden Book after making his 1000th blood donation during campaigns organized by Héma-Québec. He is one of only 24 people in Quebec to have attained that record.
Councillor Alexandre Warnet announced that on May 17, which is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, officials with the city will gather outside city hall to raise the “rainbow flag” of the LGBT movement.
‘No Mow May’
At the same time, Warnet announced that Laval is among the municipalities in Quebec that are supporting the “No Mow May” movement. As such, homeowners are being encouraged to refrain from mowing their lawns during the month of May so that natural pollination processes can take place and plants and trees can grow, contributing to environmental sustainability.
Parti Laval interim-leader Claude Larochelle (who is city councillor for Fabreville) encouraged homeowners to “not make an effort and not mow your lawn during all the month of May, because we have to give a chance to our bees.
“When the flowers are all there in June is okay, the pollinators manage to get things done, but the month of May is the beginning of the season and the dandelions have to be given a chance for the bees and all other pollinators,” Larochelle added.
