Action Laval city councillors David De Cotis (Saint-Bruno) and Paolo Galati (St-Vincent-de-Paul) say soccer organizations in Laval should be benefiting from better support, including year-around assistance, since soccer increasingly is being played all year long.

In addition to that suggestion, the two opposition councillors say that financial support for soccer groups from the city should be conditional on the groups being able to meet certain objectives in sports development in Laval.

“I was comparing the cost of playing field rentals in neighbouring cities,” says De Cotis. “It is unacceptable that it costs our organizations less to rent playing fields elsewhere than with us. This must change.”

De Cotis and Galati maintain that by recognizing soccer as a year-around sport, the City of Laval would become eligible for new financial assistance from higher governments. As well, soccer groups would find in that option a better way to finance their activities than always having to raise registration fees, they added.

“All parents know how much a single season of soccer costs for their child,” said Galati, adding that they city’s policies should encourage participation by children in organized sports.

The two say that Laval is already short of infrastructure for interior soccer. As well, sports organizations are subject to the whims of sports facilities owners who can raise prices as they see fit.

City invites job-seekers to attend IMPACT employment event Sept. 29

New economic conditions brought on over the past two years by the Covid pandemic and a changing economy promise to make the City of Laval’s IMPACT employment forum an especially interesting gathering for businesses seeking workers.

Scheduled for Sept. 29 at the Château Royal, the event will bring together important players from businesses in Laval involved in hiring workers. On Laval’s territory, nearly 12,000 jobs were vacant in 2021, and that figure had doubled since 2018.

As well, the workers available often didn’t match the needs of employers in terms of required training and experience.

“With all the changes impacting the world of work, it is essential to put into place concrete actions in order to assure the perennity of economic development in Laval,” says Laval city councillor for Duvernay Christine Poirier, who is in charge of economic development dossiers.

“As the Laval work market has been undergoing significant growth, there is urgency to act with regards to labour in order to make things sustainable.”

City adopts a new urban planning code, marking beginning of a new era

Beginning July 13, the City of Laval became the first city in Quebec to enact a completely new urban planning code for the entirety of its territory.

The city is using a new urban planning code implementation method known as Form Based Code, which harmonizes the types of usages, rather than separating them into distinct entities.

The city believes this approach will contribute to the creation of a living environment that is healthier, friendlier and more human.

The new code comes into effect this fall, along with new PPU (programmes particuliers d’urbanisme) programs for Laval’s downtown, and the Cartier and Gare Sainte-Rose areas.

“At last, this adoption is a major update that is arriving after 50 years,” says Mayor Stéphane Boyer. “I think that we can certainly speak of this as an historic moment for Laval. We are currently putting together the development of Laval for the 10, 50 and 100 coming years.

“What should be known is that in many respects, our old code was stuck in time, several decades behind, and was keeping our hands tied even now. So, this new tool will allow us to enshrine more intelligently the development of our city, to better protect our environment and to make Laval a city that is at the same time more beautiful and more pleasant to live in.”