Efforts underway ‘to find a solution quickly,’ Mayor Stéphane Boyer tells Laval city council
Fourteen years after abruptly leaving office, Gilles Vaillancourt continues to cast a shadow over the city.
While the former Laval mayor served time in prison after pleading guilty to corruption charges, the City of Laval could now be on the hook for an unpaid $1 million income tax bill owed to the Canada Revenue Agency for sums Vaillancourt admitted in court he received illicitly while in office.
During the March 10 city council meeting, Mayor Stéphane Boyer brought up the issue in his opening remarks, noting that a resolution would be passed that evening, asking federal Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne to intervene in the City of Laval’s favor.
“I had a talk with Minister Champagne yesterday, at which time I was assured that an effort was being made to find a solution quickly,” said Boyer.
Vaillancourt, who served as Laval’s mayor from 1989 to 2012, pleaded guilty in 2016 to engaging in corrupt administration practices. This included an admission by him that millions of dollars of proceeds from the scheme went into a Swiss bank account.
Holding Laval responsible
Although Vaillancourt returned more than $7 million to the City of Laval, Radio-Canada reported that the CRA wants Laval to transfer $1 million back to Vaillancourt so that the CRA can close his file while the former mayor pays off the tax and interest owing.
According to the Radio-Canada report, Vaillancourt’s lawyers are arguing that the City of Laval should be held responsible for the unpaid taxes since the municipality ultimately received the reimbursed sum.
In recent media interviews, Mayor Boyer pointed out that in 2016, the Quebec government reimbursed to the city money Vaillancourt owed to Revenu Québec without demanding further payment. The mayor believes the federal government has the option to do the same thing using discretionary powers at its disposal.
In a relatively rare instance of solidarity between the mayor and opposition forces on city council, Action Laval opposition city councillor David De Cotis (Saint-Bruno) tabled a motion supporting the administration’s position on the unpaid taxes.
‘Profoundly unfair,’ says De Cotis
It demanded the federal minister of national revenue exercise his discretionary power to cancel former mayor of Laval Gilles Vaillancourt’s fiscal debt of one million dollars. “The City of Laval has recovered $7 million from municipal funds embezzled by the former mayor,” Action Laval said in a statement.
“The government of Quebec has already remitted provincial taxes to the city, that is approximately $1.8 million, while the Canada Revenue Agency claims now nearly $1 million.” According to Action Laval, Ottawa should pose a similar gesture to prevent Laval taxpayers from being penalized a second time.
“Laval is being forced to pay for crimes committed against it,” said De Cotis. “This situation is profoundly unfair for citizens who have already suffered the consequences of the actions taken at the time by Gilles Vaillancourt.”
At the same time, however, De Cotis took a shot at Mayor Boyer for allegedly failing to prevent what happened.
“The mayor claims to be very surprised today, but this agreement has been in place since 2016,” De Cotis said, alluding to the settlement originally reached between Vaillancourt and the city. “What did he do all these years to try and change it?”
The full text of Action Laval’s resolution
CONSIDERING THAT the City of Laval has recovered 7 million dollars in municipal funds embezzled by fraudulent maneuvers by its former mayor, Gilles Vaillancourt;
CONSIDERING THAT by decree of the Executive Council, the government of Quebec has returned to the City of Laval the amount of taxes payable by Gilles Vaillancourt to the provincial government, that is for a value of $1.8 million;
CONSIDERING that the Governor in Council, on recommendation by its Minister of Revenue, can remit taxes or impose penalties if their perception is judged to be unreasonable or unjust;
IT IS PROPOSED by David De Cotis:
That the municipal council unanimously asks the Minister of Revenue of Canada to use his discretionary power to repay the debt of the former mayor of the city of Laval, Mr. Gilles Vaillancourt, since this is unjust for the citizens of Laval.
