‘Innovation and tech sectors are key,’ deputy mayor Ray Khalil tells Forum IN!
The City of Laval is wagering a portion of its current economic development budget that “hi-tech” will help propel the city’s commercial/industrial business base upward to new heights during the post-Covid pandemic recovery period.
To that end, Laval’s economic development partner, LavalInnov (a non-profit that works on the region’s behalf), held the Forum IN! last week at the Grand Hôtel Times Laval, a recently-opened accommodation venue that is in itself a promising sign that the city’s economic recovery is indeed underway.
While Mayor Stéphane Boyer was scheduled to kick off the morning event with an opening address, he was forced to bow out as he was in isolation while recovering from a bout of Covid.
Relaunching the economy
However, Ray Khalil, city councillor for Sainte-Dorothée and a senior member of the executive-committee, did say a few words to the more than 100 entrepreneurs and business people.
“In Laval we have our team for economic development, called Laval Économique, who are very present and active in helping the region’s businesses, the company owners, to excel in what they do,” Khalil, speaking as deputy-mayor, said in an interview with the Laval News.
“When the pandemic started, we had a forum which gathered together around 300 individuals who are involved in Laval’s economic development to work on what might be the best measures we could put in place,” Khalil added.
A speaker addresses the crowd of more than 100 business owners and entrepreneurs during LavalInnov’s Forum IN! last week.
The road to recovery
“And right before that, we had actually put out a post-pandemic recovery plan, and in that plan were different factors. And then we met with everybody to put in place what we and the community thought would be the best actions we could take to recover after the pandemic.”
According to Khalil, the city set aside around $20 million in total shortly after the dramatic onset of the Covid pandemic, with a view to getting an early start towards offsetting the economic damage that was sure to follow.
Pandemic won’t go away
At that time, before he was elected mayor, Stéphane Boyer oversaw economic development as vice-president of the executive-committee, and he has continued to focus on restoring the city’s economy, in spite of the pandemic’s stubborn refusal to disappear.
“So, now we’re at the point where, you know what, we’re putting everything into place while accompanying businesses and people,” said Khalil.
‘We’re putting everything into place while accompanying businesses and people’
“There’s going to be a lot of projects, as we have previously said, to help them out. And the idea is first to help our local businesses. Second, to be at the forefront of the post-pandemic recovery. And thirdly, also to attract more businesses to come and install themselves in Laval.”
The City of Laval’s deputy mayor, Sainte-Dorothée city councillor Ray Khalil, opened LavalInnov’s Forum IN! last week at the Grand Hôtel Times Laval at the Laval Centropolis. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
Adapting to new reality
Khalil said the emphasis on hi-tech is meant as an encouragement for businesses to adapt themselves to the latest innovations in order to maximize their ability to compete in an ever-broadening market that increasingly is international.
“It’s technology that can bring companies to a whole new level,” he continued. “We are always trying to cultivate many different sectors of our economy. But in reality, the innovation and tech sectors are key and a priority in order to move forward during the post-pandemic recovery.”
‘In our home, there was always a lot of talk about politics’
Quebec Liberal Party leader Dominique Anglade, who will be steering the PLQ into the next provincial election in early October, says her life at home with her parents prepared her well for politics.
“At home, there was constant talk of politics, because my father was in politics, my grandfather did politics, my great-grandfather did politics,” she told Newsfirst Multimedia in a recent interview at the downtown Montreal offices of the National Assembly’s official opposition.
Family fled Haiti
Anglade’s father, Georges Anglade, was a founding faculty member of UQAM, who was forced to flee Haiti in the last 1960s because of the political oppression he experienced there.
Born in Montreal in 1974, Anglade has led the PLQ since May 2020. Her mother, Mireille Neptune, was an economist as well as devoted adherent to feminist principles.
Dominique Anglade will be leading the Quebec Liberal Party into its first provincial election since she became its leader in May 2020. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
Before immigrating to Canada in 1969, Georges Anglade was imprisoned in Haiti by the dictatorial government of the Duvalier family, and was also exiled twice as a result of his political views.
A political environment
“In our home, there was always a lot of talk about politics, because my father was into politics, my grandfather also did politics, and my great-grandfather was into politics,” said Anglade. And since her mother was involved with women’s groups, “I was immersed in an environment that was highly political,” she added.
Although Dominique Anglade was at one time a member, a candidate and even president of the Coalition Avenir Québec which currently governs the province, she maintains today that she decided to break away permanently from the CAQ when she realized it didn’t reflect her own values.
No to politics of division
“I don’t believe in the politics of division,” she said. “I am not for this anglophones versus the francophones type of thing, the immigrants versus other immigrants, those who are vaccinated versus those who aren’t vaccinated. I am personally fed up with this whole politics of division.
“What we need is to get together, to unite, to have a real social project, to have a true vision for a collective future, regardless of our origins, regardless of where we come from. For me, this is really something that inspires me into what we are doing everyday.”
Ouellette won’t run with PLQ
Responding to questions, Anglade confirmed that Chomedey Independent MNA Guy Ouellette, who sat as a Liberal in the National Assembly from 2007 until shortly after the last provincial election in 2018 when he was ejected from the PLQ caucus, will not be running for the Quebec Liberals in the October 2022 election. “It’s not part of our plans,” she said.
Considering that the sheer number of political parties running in the 2022 provincial election is expected to be exceptional, Anglade was asked how she thought this might split the vote for the PLQ, which traditionally derives a significant amount of support from anglophone and minority community voters.
Coping with divided vote
Among the parties that could be running would be a new but as yet unnamed political entity to be formed by supporters of the Task Force on Linguistic Policy, which has serious objections to the CAQ government’s Bill 96 language law revision, as well as the federal government’s Bill C-32 to overhaul the Official Languages Act.
‘I don’t believe in the politics of division’
“I think you have to earn the trust of every single citizen,” Anglade said. “I am a democrat and we live in a democracy. But we have to earn the trust of every single person. I really hope that they see that the alternative to the CAQ is the Liberal Party, in terms of standing up for everything that’s right for the English-speaking community.”
The politics of division
In the last provincial election, virtually the only area of Quebec where the Liberals maintained a stronghold was in Laval and greater Montreal, with the CAQ government capturing seats predominantly in the province’s rural regions. But at the same time, critics have pointed out that the CAQ government has been systematically neglecting metropolitan Montreal since it came to power four years ago.
“When you’re talking about the politics of division, it’s clear there’s a division between the urban centres and the rural,” said Anglade. “But you know, there are other people outside of Montreal who are also fed up and who see the level of division. This is also part of our message.”
Divers cleared ‘frazil’ ice at city’s Pont-Viau drinking water intake
The City of Laval’s public affairs department released a series of photos on World Water Day last month, detailing a challenging scuba diving operation undertaken in January when a water intake on the Rivière des Prairies had to be cleared of crystalized “frazil” ice to keep Laval’s drinking water supply flowing.
It’s worth noting that the temperature on the day of the operation at the Pont-Viau water treatment station was – 30 degrees Celsius – making it all the more dramatic.
The frazil ice menace
According to several sources, including the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering and the Cold Region Technical Digest, frazil ice is notorious for blocking water intakes, as ice crystals can accumulate and build up on a piece of protective equipment known as the intake trash rack.
January and February were exceptionally cold and led to conditions conducive to the formation of frazil
The trash rack prevents water-borne debris (such as logs, boats, animals or waterweed) from entering the water intake at the pumping station. However, at a certain point the frazil ice begins to adhere to objects in the water, and can actually damage trash racks.
A winter-time first
While the City of Laval’s water management department undertakes an inspection of all water intakes at least once a year, this was the first time an operation of this sort was conducted in mid-winter beneath freezing cold river waters and flowing ice.
The diving company hired for the job, SMM Service, sent a team that included an assigned diver, a backup diver if needed, and two support personnel.
Hours of submerged work
The equipment that was used to deal with the blockage problem included an ice axe and a pneumatic hammer, the latter being specially-adapted for underwater use. The operation lasted up to six hours, including preparation time.
Although the formation of frazil ice is considered to be rare in the Rivière des Prairies and the Rivière des Mille Îles – both of which are used by the city for drinking water intakes – the months of January and February this past winter were exceptionally cold and led to conditions conducive to the formation of frazil.
Former Quebec Premier pledges to unite a ‘seriously divided’ country
If oratorical skill and powers of persuasion hold the key to winning the race for the Conservative Party of Canada’s leadership, then Jean Charest may well be correct when he states he’ll be the Tories’ next leader when the decision is made in September.
Bid to lead the CPC
Charest’s talent as a podium speaker, as well as his uncanny ability to massage the senses of supporters and media into believing, were on full display last week when he was at the Château Royal in Laval to announce to Quebecers his bid for the CPC leadership.
More than 500 supporters cheered Charest, who served as Premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012 while leading the Quebec Liberal Party, and who also served as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998.
Jean Charest says only he can unite the Conservative Party and lead them to forming a government. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
Wants to heal division
“I am returning because Canada is seriously divided,” said Charest, who served as vice-president of the “No” committee during the campaign leading up to the 1995 provincial referendum on Quebec sovereignty, and whose current leadership campaign is using the slogan “Built to Win.”
Former Quebec Liberal Premier Jean Charest is seeking the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
“If there is a big distinction to be made between us and the other political parties in the federal parliament – the federal Liberals, the NDP, the Bloc – if there’s a major difference it’s that Canada’s Conservatives know how to make Canadian federalism work, we know how to respect the province’s responsibilities and we know how to make federalism operate to realize major projects for Canada,” he added.
Charest’s pitch to Alberta
Charest said that if he had chosen to recently launch his bid for the CPC leadership in Alberta, it was because he wanted to emphasize the challenges and ordeals that the people of the western province have been subjected to in recent years, while being largely ignored by the Trudeau government.
“I went to Alberta to give them the following message: I want to be the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada so that you may return into the Canadian fold with honor and enthusiasm, so that we can all be at the same table.”
Charest with his spouse autograph a T-shirt for an admiring supporter during his CPC leadership bid launch at the Château Royal on March 24. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
Charest argued that, with his extensive knowledge and previous experience in politics, he is in a much better position than anyone to map out strategy for a nation-wide campaign to elect a Conservative government with him as Prime Minister.
Chief rival is Poilievre
“Now, there’s something about which I know a thing or two,” he said, referring to election campaigns. “Because, friends, speaking of election campaigns, I’ve done a few and I’ve won some. And I have more election campaigns to win.”
‘I am returning because Canada is seriously divided’
While former Conservative cabinet minister Pierre Poilievre is still believed to have a significant lead in the intentions of the Tory membership who will be electing their new leader on Sept. 10, Charest made no specific mention of his chief rival, although he alluded to the hard-right style of politics that Poilievre favours.
“The Conservative Party of Canada is going to have a very important choice: Either we go down the road of American politics, or we choose a leader that will bring us together,” he said. “It is the condition by which we can win. If the Conservative Party of Canada is not able to unite, we will not unite Canadians behind us. And we need a national party.
Conservative Party of Canada leadership hopeful Jean Charest is seen here at the Château Royal in Chomedey on March 24 with his wife Michèle Dionne. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
Eye on winning Montreal seats
“What are Canadians telling us now? They look at the Trudeau government and they say, ‘You [the CPC] are the answer. You’re the national alternative to the Liberals. Get your act together. Get yourself organized. Please be the national party that we want you to be. Live up to your ambitions.’”
Charest maintained that not only would he succeed in uniting the Conservative Party of Canada, but “for those of us here in Quebec, let me share a secret with you: Not only will I lead it into an election campaign, but I will elect members of Parliament on the island of Montreal. I will bring to the table Members of Parliament from every single province in the country.”
Unity and leadership
In his closing remarks, Charest made the following pledge: “I know the road to victory. I have taken this road before. I know the way, so that we Conservatives here in Quebec but also everywhere in Canada may at last govern this country, build it, see it grow, and allow it to take its well-deserved place in the world.
“This journey can be summed up in a few words: strong leadership and unity. I am the leader who will unite the Conservative Party of Canada and I am he who will give the Conservative Party of Canada a national government.”
The current issue of the Laval News volume 30-12 published April 6th, 2022. Covering Laval local news, politics, sports and our new section Mature Life. (Click on the image to read the paper.)
Front page of the Laval News, April 6th, 2022 issue.
The Laval Police Department said last Monday that it made five arrests on March 16 and executed two search warrants in conjunction with a criminal network specializing in stolen vehicles.
The investigation, mounted under the name “Project Gardon,” was led by the LPD’s general crimes unit, with support from the Montreal Police, the Sûreté du Québec, the Trois Rivières Police, the Terrebonne Police, the Canada Border Services Agency at the Port of Montreal, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Toronto Police Service.
The five suspects arrested by Laval Police in conjunction with a car theft operation.
According to the LPD, a wave of vehicle thefts started in May 2021. The suspects used various means to steal vehicles, which included targeting cars parked at shopping centres, and installing GPS vehicle trackers under cars, which would then be stolen later from private driveways at night.
The targeted vehicles included Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango, Dodge Ram and Ford Series F. Out of 30 stolen car dossiers, six were in Laval. Other car thefts were committed in cities throughout Quebec and Ontario. The value of the stolen vehicles, which were clandestinely exported, was around $2 million.
After the five suspects were questioned by the police, they were arraigned at the Palais de Justice in Laval. Two of the suspects are: Jean-Guy Lebeau, 39, Dave Milliard, 40, and both remain detained. Also arrested were Kevin Lafontaine, 33, and Jean Tellier, 44, although both were released on bail with conditions to follow. As well, Joel Simon Campusano, 29, was arrested for possession of narcotics, but was released on bail with conditions.
Suspect and SQ officers rescued from half-frozen Mille Îles River
Three Sûreté du Québec police officers who were chasing after a driver just north of Laval last Saturday night were pulled safely from the Mille Îles River after they tried to rescue the fleeing suspect who had jumped off the Vachon Bridge on Autoroute 13 into the half-frozen river.
The 27-year-old suspect fled after his vehicle was stopped around 11 p.m. by police for a violation of the Highway Safety Code. However, he soon found himself with SQ officers on his tail.
Although the fleeing driver got as far Route 335 in Laval and was heading towards Autoroute 19, he decided to change direction, taking Autoroute 440 West, then the A-13 north along the Vachon Bridge, where the SQ deployed a nail obstacle on the roadway to puncture his tires and bring his vehicle to a stop.
When the vehicle finally did stop on the Laval side of the bridge, the driver got out, ran along the bridge deck towards the edge of the river, and jumped. When the three SQ officers proceeded to the river’s edge to try and retrieve him, the half-frozen ice broke under their weight and they went into the water.
Firefighters from Laval and from the North Shore assisted in the rescue and the suspect and three officers were pulled out safely.
The suspect was reported to be suffering from hypothermia and was being treated in hospital, with a court arraignment pending when his condition improves.
The three officers did not suffer hypothermia and did not require hospitalization.
Two suspects arrested for violent, gun-related incidents
Officers with the Laval Police and Montreal Police have arrested two male suspects believed to be responsible for a series of armed incidents committed between Feb. 22 and March 3 while they were in a stolen car.
The suspects, Matisse Brière-Duval and Akeem François, both 19 years of age, were arraigned at the Montreal courthouse on March 11 on charges of illegal firearms possession, pointing a firearm, armed robbery and dealing in stolen goods.
It is alleged that on Feb. 22 around 9:35 pm, one of the suspects pointed a gun towards the driver of a car parked in front of a restaurant in the Montreal borough of Rivière-des-Praires–Pointe-aux-Trembles. The driver was ordered to get out of his vehicle and leave the keys behind. The suspect fled in the vehicle with a second suspect.
On March 3 just after midnight, five gunshots were fired towards a residence on 24th Ave. near Crémazie Blvd. East in Montreal’s Villeray sector.
The shots were fired by an individual described by witnesses as having been seated in the back seat of an SUV fitting the description of the one stolen on Feb. 22. No one was injured in this gunfire incident.
Finally on March 10, investigators, with support from a police tactical intervention team, proceeded with the arrest of the two suspects. According to the police, one of the suspects, Akeem François, was in possession of a loaded firearm at the time of his arrest.
SQ runs command post in Laval for quad-murder investigation
The Sûreté du Québec set up a mobile command post on des Laurentides Blvd. last week as part of an investigation into four homicides in the Montreal region over the past two years, including one committed in Laval.
Besides the two homicides in Laval, related murders were also committed in Longueuil, and Kanesatake (Oka) in 2020 and 2021.
According to the SQ, Sacha Nelson César was shot while leaving his residence on de la Fabrique St. in Laval on Dec. 1, 2020. He was known to police for drug trafficking. Two suspects were seen by witnesses.
A second victim who was shot and killed in Laval, Nitchell LaPaix, was found dead on Aug. 17, 2021 near the corner of Tourangeau and St-Luc streets. He was known to police as being active with street gangs. Anyone with information about these incidents is invited to contact the SQ’s Centaure hotline at 1-833-888-ARME (2763).
Former SQ officer aspires to win a sixth term in October provincial elections
In October 2007 when Guy Ouellette was first elected to the Quebec National Assembly as the Liberal member for Chomedey, there may have been those who believed only calm seas would lie ahead for an MNA in this long-time PLQ stronghold.
And indeed, while the sailing was initially smooth for Ouellette, the waters turned suddenly very turbulent around a decade later.
That was around a year or so before the provincial elections that saw Premier François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec government raised to power.
It was also in 2017 that Ouellette was arrested by Quebec’s Unité permanente anti-corruption (UPAC) police force – even though he was never charged and has been fully exonerated since then.
Big shoes to fill
Ouellette had big shoes to fill when Tom Mulcair, who had been Chomedey’s Liberal MNA since 1994 and a Minister of the Environment is Premier Jean Charest’s cabinet, decided not to run again in the 2007 Quebec general election.
In an interview earlier this week with The Laval News, Ouellette, a former Sûreté du Québec investigator, said that having spent virtually all his professional life in police work, he had no real idea of what awaited him in the realm of politics.
“Frankly, arriving in politics, first I didn’t know what politics was all about,” he said. “Police and politics are not two things that normally go together. But being in public service for 32 years as a police officer, for me it was a normal step going into politics.
“And I tried to figure at the beginning to apply the same recipe: helping people, serving them, hearing them, trying to get their file to the government to make things change. And especially in Laval, because Laval as a whole is an island and you need to work together. So, I put in a lot of effort to make sure that with my other colleagues we would speak as one in Laval.”
Team work essential, he says
If there is one lesson Ouellette said he learned in the 15 years he’s been office, it’s that the region’s six MNAs need to work closely together in order to ensure that Laval – the third largest municipality in Quebec – receives everything it deserves from the provincial government.
“We saw over the years, a couple of times when there were different governments, that when you split your forces in Laval or elsewhere, the result is totally different,” he said.
Pointing out that since 1981, when the provincial electoral district of Chomedey was created from parts of the Fabre and Laval ridings, Chomedey has had just three MNAs, Ouellette noted they were all Liberal, while adding he hoped to add four more years to his record following this October’s provincial election.
“It was always in my mind to take part in the 2022 election,” he continued, while acknowledging that the UPAC affair briefly upset his electoral plans.
Wins his first term in office
Leading up to his first electoral win on March 26, 2007, Ouellette expressed his desire to help get kids off the street by improving the existing sports infrastructures, such as arenas, and committed himself to the creation of a new soccer field in Chomedey.
During that year’s campaign, his 38 years of experience in public safety would come in handy when it came to improving the safety of Laval’s streets. “I will put my years of experience at work for the Chomedey population to have a safe environment for the people,” he said at the time.
“The mood at Liberal candidate Guy Ouellette’s campaign headquarters on election night was mixed,” we wrote in our election night coverage that year. “Early in the evening there were a few nerves, yet a sense of confidence that in the Chomedey riding, at least, Liberal rouge would prevail.”
As we pointed out, the real story, as expected that evening, was the makeup of the next provincial government as a whole. By this time the local vote, projected from a web page onto the screen, showed Ouellette with a comfortable lead of 62 per cent as he was declared elected by TVA within an hour of poll closings.
His second victory in Chomedey
On the eve of his second term win in the December 2008 election, Ouellette was focusing his campaign on the economy, as well as programs aimed at getting youth off the street and into sports and activities to empower them.
The construction of a sports complex for residents of Laval was in the early stages of development. “The center will have activities and indoor sports that will keep young people busy and active,” he said. The economy was also a major issue the PLQ was addressing on the campaign trail.
“The economy is really important because Chomedey is the third poorest riding in terms of income in the province,” added Ouellette. “Citizens are concerned about their incomes and I need to reassure them.” The main message the PLQ wanted to send out to Quebecers was that a majority government was the key to combating the looming economic crisis.
“There are some clouds coming up in the next couple of months and with a minority government, there are three hands on the wheel. I think if people don’t want an election every 18 months, vote for a majority government and it will be finished for four years. Choose the party with the best leader, the best team and the best plan. The answer to all three is the Liberals,” stated Ouellette.
A third election win
At Guy Ouellette’s campaign headquarters as he was running for a third term on Sept. 4 2012, the ambience seemed more of a family gathering than a group of political strategists who had come together at campaign’s end for an inventory of the results.
This was the election when the Parti Québécois was able to stage a brief return to power, since being turfed from office by Jean Charest’s Liberals in 2003.
“This is just one battle tonight – we haven’t lost the fight – tonight is tonight but tomorrow is another day,” Ouellette told supporters after his victory was confirmed.
Acknowledging that the province would now be governed by a minority PQ government, he added, “It’s far from over – follow what’s going to happen – we aren’t off to another election yet. The next few days promise to be very, very interesting.”
Ouellette thanked his wife and children who were all present, while also expressing his thanks to those from the Chomedey Greek and Armenian communities who supported him.
“We have the largest Greek community in Chomedey, and it was very important for me to know that I had the support of the Greek and the Armenian communities,” he said.
Ouellette finished with more than 57 per cent support, compared to the Coalition Avenir Québec’s 19.24 per cent and the PQ’s 16.79 per cent. Ouellette became the Laval Liberals’ senior MNA.
Wins his fourth election
As the polls closed on the night of April 7, 2014 when Ouellette won his fourth term in office, the PLQ won all six seats in the Laval region. Ouellette, who as Laval’s senior Liberal was now chairman of the Laval PLQ caucus, was surrounded by supporters of all ages and varied ethnic backgrounds at his campaign headquarters.
“It took teamwork to win six ridings,” he told supporters. “I thank you all, Greek and Armenian communities, Portuguese, Arabic, French Canadian and many others. We are all Quebecers here.”
Ouellette spoke of the future with confidence. “We had two priorities. The first was to win a majority government. The second was to take all six ridings in Laval. We achieved those two objectives tonight. Going forward, we have confidence in Philippe Couillard. He is an extraordinary guy. I believe in my boss.”
Ouellette wins a fifth term
A feeling of victory filled the air at Ouellette’s Notre Dame Blvd. campaign headquarters on provincial election night Oct. 1, 2018 – even though it also rang hollow.
Although Ouellette himself easily won a fifth term as had been expected, the Quebec Liberal Party’s losses most everywhere else in Quebec were historic in their proportion. After election night, events turned in such a way that Ouellette was no longer a Liberal and would be representing the people of Chomedey as an independent member of the National Assembly.
The PLQ managed to capture four of Laval’s five other ridings, the exception being Fabre where incumbent Liberal Jean Habel was defeated by the Coalition Avenir Québec’s Christopher Skeete.
Only a few days before the election, Ouellette was embroiled in a controversy when Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault maintained that Ouellette had previously leaked confidential information to the CAQ regarding contracts awarded by the Liberal government.
Guy Ouellette is seen here at his campaign headquarters on election night in 2018. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
Ouellette had been briefly placed under arrest in October 2017 by UPAC, which was conducting an investigation of leaked documents and information from within its own ranks. At the time, the National Assembly’s speaker issued a statement expressing solidarity with Ouellette and denouncing UPAC’s actions as a threat to the work done by all MNAs.
“Being in politics isn’t always easy,” Ouellette said in an address to his supporters on that election night. “You have to be willing to follow through on your convictions, you have to be up to the same level as your integrity. It’s not everyone who understands this and it’s not everyone who accepts it. But I have never made any compromises in terms of rigour and this integrity to defend the citizens of Chomedey while continuing to serve you.”
Despite the dismal results for the Liberals across the province, Ouellette said, “It won’t change my determination to serve and to serve each and every citizen of Chomedey.
“We didn’t get the results across the province that might have been wished for tonight,” he continued. “But for the citizens of Chomedey, starting tomorrow we’ll be in a position to continue the work we do and that was started by [former MNAs] Mr. Mulcair and Mrs. Bacon and the late Jean-Noël Lavoie.”
The City of Laval is inviting young playwrights as well as stage producers and directors between the ages of 18 – 35 to submit candidacies for a youth theatre public mentorship program by an April 15 deadline.
The finalist will receive mentorship and guidance in all of the steps necessary for a staged production of a theatrical work created by the winner.
The public will then have the opportunity to attend a staging of the completed production in the summer of 2023 at Laval’s Centre de la Nature, as well as during the summer of 2024 when the production tours parks around Laval.
A rehearsal for a production made possible through the City of Laval’s theatre mentorship program. (Photo : Sandrick Mathurin)
“It is with great pride that the city has been supporting this program since 2010 and that it acts as a major partner in the promotion of emerging creative talents,” says Sainte-Rose city councillor Flavia Alexandra Novac, who is responsible for culture dossiers on city council.
Empowering artists
“Through this support, we are empowering artists on their way to becoming professionals to create a work for young members of the public, while they benefit from professional expertise and artistic support from a team of mentors. This is a helpful push forward for our future performing artist.”
As part of the program, the partner organization, Théâtre Harpagon, will be supervising the mentorship side, as well as the production and staging of the show, in conjunction with the city which will be providing support. The City of Laval also sponsors a mentorship program for creators of theatrical content for pre-school children (2 – 6 years). Some of the theatrical works produced as a result of that program will be touring Laval’s parks over the coming summer.
Laval residents are paying taxes again and again, claims Action Laval
In a statement issued on March 18, Action Laval city councillors Achille Cifelli (Val-des-Arbres) and David De Cotis (Saint-Bruno) said they felt deeply disappointed at Mayor Stéphane Boyer’s apparent determination to find new ways to make Laval’s taxpayers pay even more.
“During a presentation by the municipal administration, Action Laval’s municipal councillors learned to their surprise that the administration had undertaken a restructuring,” they said. “The announced goal was to free up $200 million to allow the city to invest in its infrastructures.”
According to the two councillors, the mayor revealed in a recent interview that he wants to find new sources to be able to come up with this $200 million.
“The taxes on business parking, taxes on new construction and taxes on other sources he may come up with, in the end who will be paying them?” Cifelli asked. “Regardless of the tax implemented, in the end it is the same people who pay them: the citizens. It’s really saying something about somebody’s naiveté to claim that businesses will be making up the cost of these taxes.”
Action Laval says the mayor is planning on increasing the budget 20 per cent in four years, without cutting services or the number of employees. They maintain that to this end, “he wants to use the power of taxation conferred on him by the law which aims to expand municipal autonomy. By following this logic, the conclusion is simple: The citizens will pay 20 per cent more in four years, on top of inflation.” “I think that the mayor and Laval’s residents are not living in the same reality,” said De Cotis. “Does he understand the meaning of what he had said? Is he capable of understanding what it means to find 20 per cent more in the pockets of the residents?”
Atis Portes et Fenêtres did business under several company names
The Quebec Consumer Affairs Office is advising the public that they may be entitled to a refund on claims following the closure of a business which sold doors and windows under several company names and which has now declared bankruptcy.
Atis Portes et Fenêtres (Atis S.E.C.) had a head office located at 2225 des Entreprises Blvd. in Terrebonne. Other company names under which it also did business included Laflamme Portes et Fenêtres, Vimat Portes et Fenêtres, Solarcan (MC), Vitrerie Lévis, Groupe Astral, Groupe Racine, Vitrotec, Fenestration Pro-Tech et Portes and Fenêtres J.M. Ferron.
Declared bankruptcy
As required by Quebec’s consumer protection laws, the company had a permit as an itinerant, or transient, business and had made a sizeable deposit with the consumer protection office as part of the agreement. The office says that following the company’s bankruptcy, the deposit may now be used to indemnify consumers who had claims pending against the company.
Consumers who signed an itinerant sales contract with Atis Portes et Fenêtres and who believe they may have grounds for a claim from the dealer are invited to consult the Quebec Consumer Protection Office’s website, under the link Indemnisation. There they will find documentation needed to make a request for indemnisation.
Special permit needed
According to Quebec’s consumer protection laws, an itinerant or transient business owner is one who tries to conclude or concludes a contract with a consumer, other than at his place of business. As such, business owners of this type must have a special permit from the consumer protection office.
The permit and the deposit the business owner must make are required in order to ensure financial protection to consumers in case the business owner fails to honor the contract, goes bankrupt or closes the business.
Opposition parties cry foul over government’s plan to maintain discretionary powers over health care during election period
When MNAs returned to the National Assembly last week after a two-week recess, the mood was much different than it was after the return to work after the Christmas holidays.
For the first time in two years, all 125 elected officials were able to sit together in the Blue Room. Businesses are once again open, the vaccine passport is no longer required, mask mandates will soon be lifted and spring is in the air. It almost feels like a return to normal… almost.
COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations have fallen nationally, but countries in Europe and Asia have seen an uptick since the beginning of the month. The World Health Organization has reported an 8 per cent increase in case numbers globally.
Health Minister Christian Dubé explained the uptick in cases overseas is why he has tabled a bill to lift the public health state of emergency but maintain some discretionary powers until the end of the year.
“We need to be ready because the virus is still there,” he told reporters.
Exceptional powers
The government has renewed the state of emergency more than 100 times since it was first declared under the province’s Public Health Act in March 2020. It gives Quebec exceptional powers, notably the ability to sign contracts without the requirement that they first go to tender.
Opposition parties, which have been calling for an end to “governing by decree” for months, say the new bill is just the government’s way of trying to maintain special powers.
The health minister “can basically decide anything he wants, especially during an election period. So that is definitely a benefit to the CAQ, not a benefit to Quebecers,” said Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade.
Dubé staunchly refuted this claim and said he will offer a technical briefing to the opposition parties because, he maintained they do not understand the bill. To reporters, he explained discretionary powers are needed to allow the government to act quickly in the event of a potential sixth wave this fall.
Mass vaccination site
As an example, he said Montreal’s convention centre, the Palais des congrès, is rented until September for use as a mass vaccination site. “We don’t want to end up with no Palais des congrès in the middle of (another wave) of the pandemic, or in the middle of a vaccination period.”
He explained that if the new bill is passed, the government would have the right to extend the rental agreement, but only until the end of the year.
During question period, Premier François Legault explained that the new bill greatly reduces the government’s ability to enact emergency health measures. “Under the health emergency order, the government had the right to put in place a vaccine passport. With the bill that has just been tabled, we can no longer do that. Same thing for curfews. Same thing for school closures. Same thing for all the measures, except one. One remains in place and that’s masks in public transportation.”
Despite the tension between the government and the opposition parties, Dubé continues to seek their collaboration, not just on this bill, but on his upcoming and highly anticipated proposal to “rebuild” the health care system. It has not yet been tabled.
It’s an ambitious venture as only 10 weeks remain in the spring session before parties embark on the campaign trail. Chances are high the plan to overhaul health care will become a major item in the fall election.
