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Who’s taking sides? ‘Conservatives are dangerous,’ Canadian Labour Congress says

Martin C. Barry
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Who’s taking sides? ‘Conservatives are dangerous,’ Canadian Labour Congress says

‘We’re not endorsing anyone specifically, right?’ says national labour lobby’s president

Although the Canadian Labour Congress doesn’t formally endorse any particular political party during elections, the national trade union lobby group makes no secret of its colossal disdain for Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole, and what the CLC claims is his “record of letting down workers.”

A focus on issues

“We’re not endorsing anyone specifically, right?” CLC president Bea Bruske said during a phone interview on Labour Day weekend with Newsfirst Multimedia.

“Because, of course, we represent many different unions that have many different thoughts on these particular issues. And so, what we really want to always focus on is the issues. And really the issues are that we have significant problems in our country that affect workers, that affect our communities.

Pandemic’s election impact

“We know from the last 18 months that the pandemic has really laid bare some of those existing inequalities that labour has been talking about for a long time. And so, we have things we want the parties to address and we want workers who are voting to think about when they mark their ballots.”

Still, the CLC’s head acknowledged that the Ottawa-based lobby group has historically maintained close links to the left-wing NDP, much more than any other party.

Building connections

But at the same time, she downplayed the CLC’s relationship to the Liberals, in spite of the Trudeau government’s appointment this past summer of the CLC’s immediate past president to the Senate.

“No matter what party is governing, we need to have a relationship with that party, right?” said Bruske. “And so, what that means is that when they make decisions that we believe are the best course of action for workers, we would support that.

“When their decisions are not in the best direction for workers, we’re going to speak to that, as well. And so, you know, we need to be able to have that open door kind of connection with anyone who is forming the government.”

Conservatives ‘dangerous’

That said, there’s no doubt how the CLC feels about the Conservatives and their leader. “Our message to hard-working people is simple: Conservatives are dangerous for working Canadians – don’t risk our future on Erin O’Toole,” Bruske said, holding nothing back in a media release earlier this month.

“We have seen his rhetoric around supporting working people,” added Bruske, who became the CLC’s new president in June, succeeding Hassan Yussuff who was appointed to the Senate that same month by the Trudeau government.

“But when you look at his record, you start seeing the real O’Toole. While he clearly will now say anything for votes, the fact is Erin O’Toole is a former Bay St. lawyer for giant corporations. And it shows.

Taking aim at O’Toole

“Sadly, Mr. O’Toole cannot be counted on to stand up for workers. This election, he’s proposing policies that fail to protect workers’ pensions during commercial bankruptcies and start privatizing EI and public pensions. And during the pandemic, while Alberta premier Jason Kenney made it easier to bust unions and attacked nurses, Erin O’Toole was silent.”

Bruske and the CLC contend that O’Toole’s anti-worker record includes: Voting against extending emergency pandemic help for workers; saying the government should have given less to working families and more to businesses instead; proposing a law making it easier for corporations to walk away from pension obligations; voting to make it harder for workers to refuse dangerous work; and supporting trade deals that lost Canada thousands of manufacturing jobs.

An historic election

Bruske suggested that after 18 months of working people facing unprecedented health and economic challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, the outcome of election 2021 could be historical.

Bruske downplayed the CLC’s relationship to the Liberals, in spite of the Trudeau government’s appointment this past summer of the CLC’s immediate past president to the Senate

“The pandemic and economic crisis laid bare the inequality in our society,” she said.

“Many families are struggling to afford housing and essentials like food and medicine. The stakes are high in this election. Canada’s unions are urging Canadians to support candidates who are putting working families at the centre of their recovery plans.”

Our Debates Don’t Serve Canadians

Robert Vairo
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Our Debates Don’t Serve Canadians

I watched the French debate on TVA last week, the first of two French debates. Why is that? French Canadians and French Quebecers form less that 25% of the population, yet there are twice as many French debates as there are English. Another French debate today, Wednesday the 8th, and the other, finally in English, on Thursday. If we are to respect Canadian demographics, shouldn’t there be three English debates to one French debate? Not sure of the reason but I can guess. Quebec is vitally important to any party that wants to win a majority. Justin Trudeau failed to take home all the chips in Quebec in 2019, because a newcomer, with an at home forum to display him, the Bloc’s Yves-Francois Blanchet, ‘un gas de Chambly-Beloeil’, stole the show, in French. And stole Trudeau’s majority.

If Canada purports to be officially bilingual, why don’t we have a bilingual debate? Interpreters of course required, but it’s feasible. I agree it could get messy when one leader talks over another as we often see and hear, but if that’s how they are going to conduct themselves, that’s the way it’ll be seen, and heard.

Do all these debates really serve all Canadians. Certainly not. This first French debate highlighted the pandemic, social issues and ‘le Canada de Demain’. We could have a debate on each of these topics. Discussion on the handling of the pandemic, and the billions of unaccounted expenditures could easily take up an hour or two. A debate on the pros and cons of free and lavish spending in the weeks leading up to the election call, another two hours. We could have a debate on Afghanistan. Despite its initial noble purpose, and some last-minute heroic efforts, it was a catastrophic miscalculation, and considered a 20-year failure by the Americans and all those who helped out. That would definitely include Canada. We deployed 40 thousand members of the Canadian Armed Forces, lost 168 men and women, and sustained two thousand injuries.

The west does not give a damn about Quebec, but it should when it comes to Bill 96. It not only affects western Canada but all Canadians. As the respected former Quebec minister Clifford Lincoln puts it, the bill is “the substitution of the National Assembly for the courts of law, as the arbiter of language provisions in the bill.”. This could easily apply to other provinces, not necessarily affecting language, but our sacred Canadian rights. That’s why all Canadians should pay attention.

How about a debate just on our Public Health system? But the moderator(s) has to probe when there is mention of those billions of dollars given to the provinces. This should not be an exercise in accounting. It’s about what is relative and meaningful to you and me the viewers. We want to know how this money would be used, and how it would benefit you and me when God forbid, we are sent to emergency, or admitted for surgery. Would it reduce wait time in the ER? Would it eliminate having to seek medical assistance in the US, Mexico, or Europe? Would it add more nurses? How would it raise the poor standards, and medical professionalism in long term care homes?

Debates can be extremely useful as a means of informing the electorate. Instead, this quick two-hour debate we are exposed to, whether French or English, is centered on who won and who lost. Who cares? The vote results will determine that. It should not be about whether the debate results advance a leader in the polls because he/she articulated their position well, but rather what did I learn as a tax paying viewer about their respective program content, its viability, and credibility. It’s about leadership qualities, and whether the head of that party will deliver for me as a Prime Minister. That’s what it’s all about, or should be.

The process of mail in votes will start soon. It will be a new experience for many of the over 27 million Canadians registered. I’m still in the dark about why we are holding an election at this time when the majority of us do not want to go to the polls during the 4th wave of a Covid 19 pandemic. No one has adequately answered that question, especially the person who called this election.

The nearly 80% of us who have been vaccinated wonder why, and frankly want these impudent hooligans, anti vaxxers, screaming vitriol in front of hospitals, to stop. STOP. It’s the height of disrespect for the health care workers, crying out their frustration and fatigue. And it’s rude and disrespectful to the patients in those hospitals trying to recover from surgery, and Covid-19.

That’s What I’m Thinking

Robert Vairo

robert@newsfirst.ca

Chomedey landlord wins $29,500 judgment against ‘tenant from hell’

Martin C. Barry
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Chomedey landlord wins $29,500 judgment against ‘tenant from hell’

However, Châtelaine Ave. owner may never collect the damages settlement

While a Chomedey landlord recently won an almost $30,000 judgement against a tenant who was held liable for extensive damages to an apartment, the owners say they still have numerous hurdles to jump before they can even hope to collect a settlement from their former tenant.

“Honestly, this could be the worst tenant of all time,” said Bill Choudalos, whose father, Stelios, has owned and lived in a Châtelaine Ave. duplex in Chomedey for half a century.

Three years ago, the father, who has 2 1/2 room basement apartment, decided to rent it out to a middle-aged Chomedey man who claimed he was a former international DJ who had begun working for an Australian security company.

Signs things weren’t right

“About ten, fifteen years ago, he would travel even to Europe to DJ,” said Bill, surmising that the former tenant’s heyday was apparently over by the time he arrived on his father’s doorstep seeking to rent the apartment.

Being essentially kind in nature, the father decided to rent out the unit at a fairly low cost – around $500 a month, as his son recalled.

However, they sensed something was going wrong when one of the first things the new tenant did after moving in was to tape large black cloth coverings over the basement apartment’s windows. As a result, no one on the outside could see the gradually-deteriorating state of things inside.

Living in a garbage heap

“His curtains weren’t opened for three years,” said Bill. Much worse, it would appear he almost never bothered to clean up and put out his garbage, which accumulated in large piles inside.

The apartment after, seen here with Bill Choudalos who is holding the judgment issued by Quebec’s Régie du Logement.

“He had his mattress over here in the corner, and he had garbage beside the mattress, but it would stay there for weeks and weeks. When I first came in here after he left, the smell was unbelievable. I couldn’t stay in more than five minutes. How does a human being live under those conditions?”

Then came the rats. The accumulation of garbage became so bad over the three-year period, that the four-legged vermin were living openly in the apartment, claims Bill, who furnished The Laval News with photos showing a dead rat on the floor of the vacated apartment.

Cleanup took two months

“There was a stove and there were rats living in the drawer of the stove and there were thousands of rat droppings in there,” he said. “This is all because he [the tenant] would hoard garbage. It took us two months after he left just to get rid of the rats. After he left, we removed 35 garbage bags.”

The infestation grew worse when the rats began spreading from the basement through the walls upward into the rest of the house. The family could hear them scratching behind the walls as the rats moved around at night. According to Bill, the tenant always refused during his three years of occupancy to allow the apartment to be inspected.

‘Honestly, this could be the worst tenant of all time,’ says Bill Choudalos

“Things came to a head one summer afternoon when we saw a rat on the windowsill,” he said. “We were walking through our backyard and it was daylight. There we could see between the curtain and the window was a rat on the windowsill. We couldn’t believe it. He was in the apartment and there was a rat in there with him.”

Would be up all night

Bill said the tenant would typically be up all night, smoking cigarettes and marijuana – even though Bill claims the tenant had agreed to smoke only outdoors – while burning candles that were later found burned down to their stubs, creating a potential fire hazard.

Matters finally came to head when Bill and his father decided to call the Laval Fire Department, which conducted an inspection, following which an inspector issued an order to the tenant to remove the garbage from the apartment within a two-week deadline.

One of the many rats from a vermin infestation that the owners discovered in their Châtelaine Ave. basement apartment as a result of garbage that an abusive tenant refused to remove during his three years living there.

“That’s how we were finally able to get rid of him,” said Bill. “He knew it was pretty much impossible to clean up the mess that he created. So, last Oct. 8, he finally moved out. My 80-year-old dad who’s been here for 50 years and never missed a day of work in his life, did the cleanup himself.

Appliances ruined

“The fridge and stove were ruined. The stove was covered in rat droppings. It took two months to finally get rid of the rats.

The tenant is currently living in an apartment complex on Chomedey Blvd. in Laval. He promised my dad he would return to pay the last month’s rent, which he didn’t, he never came back.”

Despite the Quebec Régie du Logement tribunal judgement in his father’s favour, Bill notes that his family will have to hire a bailiff at their own expense and take other legal avenues if they hope to collect the $29,500 amount.

Laval News Volume 29-30

Costa Hovris
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Laval News Volume 29-30

The current issue of the Laval News volume 29-30 published September 8th, 2021.
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.
https://lavalnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/TLN-29-30-WEB.pdfFront page of the Laval News, September 8th, 2021 issue.

Teenage male shot in yet another gun incident

Martin C. Barry
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Teenage male shot in yet another gun incident

A 20-year-old male suffered non-life-threatening injuries last Sunday evening in Chomedey during a firearms incident that is now under investigation by the Laval Police.

Gun shots were heard around 9 pm on 63rd Ave. However, when summoned to the scene, officers with the LPD were unable to find the victim.

A short time later, while passing the corner of Daniel Johnson and Cartier boulevards, they spotted him in a vehicle, suffering from what appeared to be a gunshot wound.

The teenager, apparently known to the police, was driven to hospital where medical staff determined the injuries were not life-threatening.

Back on the shooting scene, a security perimeter was set up, as the police searched for evidence and clues regarding the circumstances of the shooting incident.

Laval man faces charges after fleeing in stolen car

A male resident of Laval was injured the night of Aug. 26 following a high-speed police chase that started in Terrebonne north-east of Laval and ended in a crash on Highway 40 in east end Montreal.

The chase began on Montée des Pionniers in Terrebonne around 7:30 p.m. that evening, after police noticed a car had been reported stolen in Quebec City two days earlier.

The police pursued the vehicle after the driver refused to stop, speeding away on local streets, then onto the island of Montreal and highway 40 near exit 89.

The suspect vehicle’s airbag deployed when the car hit a construction cone, a median and then a lamp standard. According to a police account of the incident, the vehicle spun around several times before coming to a stop.

The injured driver was taken to hospital under police escort with some minor neck and back injuries. According to a spokesman for the Terrebonne Police, the driver is probably facing charges for dangerous driving and possibly also car theft.

Laval man nailed in Windsor ON for possession of stolen vehicle

A male Laval resident allegedly caught inside a vehicle stolen in Manitoba was arrested in Windsor, Ontario last week.

Police officers with the Windsor Police Service were on patrol on at 7 p.m. on Aug. 24 when they spotted a white Hyundai Elantra parked in the area.

They soon discovered that the vehicle had been reported stolen in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The Laval resident, identified as Jean-Francois D’asti Brideau, 26, of Laval, was found inside the vehicle.

The Windsor Police reported that he was arrested without incident and is now charged with possession of property obtained by crime with a value more than $5,000.

Author inspires Congregation Shaar Shalom with story of parents’ survival

Martin C. Barry
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Author inspires Congregation Shaar Shalom with story of parents’ survival

‘Meant to Be’ recounts John and Sonja Franken’s joint-destiny, while continents apart

Members of Chomedey’s Congregation Shaar Shalom were taken on a riveting journey back in time last week, as author Roslyn Franken recounted the unforgettable story in her book, ‘Meant to Be,’ about how her parents, as Jewish teenagers, survived captivity during World War II, continents apart, to find everlasting love while triumphing over tragedy.

Parents’ joint-destiny

Franken’s book was the subject of a Zoom webcast presentation on Aug. 25. (The title comes from the Yiddish word ‘bashert’ signifying, among other things, soulmates and their joint-destiny).

While her mother survived several concentration camps in Nazi Europe – she faced death in the gas chambers three times and survived – her father, who was a prisoner of war in Japan where he was used as a slave laborer – survived the atomic bombing in August 1945 of Nagasaki.

Luck or ‘bashert’?

How did they survive? How did they meet? How did they end up in Montreal where they married and made a beautiful life together despite the trauma of their past? Their daughter revealed the answers to these questions and more in a presentation that was at once uplifting, inspiring, breathtaking and emotionally charged.

“People say things to me like, ‘Were they ever lucky,’ ‘Talk about coincidence,’ and I’m saying ‘really?’ Was it really just luck and coincidence that both my parents would survive in the most extraordinary ways you’re about to discover?

“No, not according to my parents,” she continued. “They would tell you it was all ‘bashert,’ that wonderful little Yiddish word with many meanings, one of which is ‘meant to be’.”

Both suffered ordeals

While John, a young naval recruit in the Dutch East Indies, was captured at sea by the Japanese and had to fight for his life as a POW, Sonja was taken by the Nazis from her home in The Netherlands to endure the horrors of Auschwitz and other Holocaust concentration camps.

“Three times there was either a malfunction in the gas supply, or they had gassed so many people through that day they had run out of gas,” Roslyn said, describing part of her mother’s survival ordeal. “And before they could fix the problem, she was being put on a train and being shipped off to the next camp. She was in eleven different camps in total.”

‘Meant to Be’

If this had happened once, she added, “You could maybe say she was lucky. Two times very lucky. Three times, she would tell you it was bashert: meant to be.”

John spent three-and-a-half years as a war captive of the Japanese. During the last phase of this period, he was being worked as a slave labourer at a subterranean mine in Nagasaki. It was one of two cities over which U.S. forces detonated atomic bombs, to bring about Japan’s surrender at the conclusion of World War II.

“Where was my father when the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki?,” said Roslyn. “He was hundreds of metres underground. It saved his life. Again, he would tell you it was meant to be.”

Finally together

After enduring many tests of faith and personal strength at the hands of their captors on opposite sides of the world, the two were brought together at war’s end in the most extraordinary of circumstances to rebuild their lives, eventually arriving in post-war Montreal where they started a new life and raised a family.

Roslyn provided a powerful combination of masterful storytelling along with compelling audio-visual elements, including family photos, video clips from a Gemini award-nominated CBC television documentary about her parents, for a very memorable and meaningful evening.

Her book is the subject of a pending feature film currently in development. Roslyn is selling her book through her own website: roslynfranken.com. It is also available through Amazon and ​Kindle.

Conservative Party announces its four election candidates in Laval

Martin C. Barry
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Conservative Party announces its four election candidates in Laval

Petrari, D’Anello, Pettas and El-Helou will all be on the ballot on Sept. 20

While unveiling a slate of candidates running for the Laval region’s federal seats in the Sept. 20 general election, a senior official with the Conservative Party noted that the four chosen runners are entrepreneurs, business managers and professionals who are truly representative because of their dedicated community involvement in Laval.

Pledging to serve Laval

“I can tell you that from the moment they are elected as representatives in the Parliament of Canada, the team that is here today will take the interests of Laval to Ottawa, and not the interests of Ottawa and the Liberal Party to Laval,” said Senator Leo Housakos, who has been a member of the Senate since being appointed 13 years ago by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

A life-long Conservative, Housakos said he could remember back in the 1980s when the Conservatives succeeded in scoring a major breakthrough in Laval by electing Conservative MPs over a span of eight years.

Conservative Senator Leo Housakos. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)

“And when we did it in 1984-88, it was the same type of individuals: people connected to the community, professionals, business people and people who were doing politics for the right reasons,” added Housakos.

Petrari in Marc-Aurèle-Fortin

Sarah Petrari, an administrator for a biopharmaceutical company, is running for the party in the riding of Marc-Aurèle-Fortin.

The eldest of five children, she immigrated to Canada at the age of twelve. She was born in Southern California of a Mexican migrant family. She spent the vast majority of her youth in the Laurentians north of Laval, where she quickly learned French, a language she says she has grown to deeply cherish and love.

“The Conservative Party of Canada is the only choice before us that would bring common sense back to Ottawa and secure Canada’s future in these still very uncertain times,” she said. “I am offering you my candidacy to participate in a recovery of our country on all levels. Erin O’Toole has my all my respect.”

D’Anello in Alfred-Pellan

Angiolino D’Anello is running in the riding of Alfred-Pellan. According to some biographical notes furnished by the Conservative Party, D’Anello has over 40 years worth of established skills in entrepreneurship and corporate business, with a diverse background in several fields and industries.

He holds two degrees from Concordia University, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and legal studies, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Community Politics and the Law. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and president of Club Richelieu Bourassa/Club Bourassa.

He said he has actively participated in several political campaigns at all three levels of government as an adviser, among other roles. However, he said he withdrew his support from the federal Liberals, “deceived by the incompetence and the unacceptable track record of the Trudeau government,” D’Anello’s biography states.

Pettas in Laval-Les Îles

Spyridonas Pettas is running in Laval-Les Îles. With 30 years experience in management and leadership of private and publicly held enterprises, he is currently president of a small enterprise, ARCA Logistics Solutions Inc., a privately held armoured car and security guard company.

More recently, he says he has been working closely with Batshaw Youth and Family Centres, the provincial government-funded social services organization in Montreal that is devoted to the welfare of children and their families.

“I came to the decision to run for office with the Conservative Party of Canada after a great deal of contemplation,” he said, while adding that running was his ambition for many years and he hoped, if elected, to help improve Canadians’ livelihoods, their health, women’s rights, freedom of expression, First Nations rights, veterans who risked their lives for freedom, real environmental solutions and taxpayers’ rights.

El-Helou in Vimy

Rima El-Helou is running in Laval’s Vimy riding. With a Master’s of Business Administration from ESCP-EAP in Paris, as well as degrees in public health, midwifery and marketing, she has a diverse professional background and a wealth of work experience.

‘The team that is here today will take the interests of Laval to Ottawa, and not the interests of Ottawa and the Liberal Party to Laval’

With regards to the 2021 federal election campaign, she feels especially strongly about issues involving provincial rights and jurisdictions and the potential decentralization of power from Ottawa to the Quebec government, including a better deal for the management of medicare in the province.

“The contract with all Quebecers addresses many of the wishes of the population with respect to their federal government: granting more power to Quebec and the means to finance its health system,” she said in a statement issued by the Conservative Party.

Marché 440 hopes to transform itself into ‘L’Aparté au Marché’

Martin C. Barry
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Marché 440 hopes to transform itself into ‘L’Aparté au Marché’

$300 million re-development would rank it among Laval’s biggest current projects

The owners of the Marché 440 mall and public market on Autoroute 440 in central Laval are eagerly waiting for a green-light from urban planning officials with the city before forging ahead with one of the largest property re-development strategies ever undertaken in Laval.

With an estimated investment of more than $300 million, the value of the Rizzuto family’s Aparté au Marché commercial and residential campus is exceeded only by a few recent Laval re-development projects – the most notable perhaps being Groupe Montoni’s $450 million Espace Montmorency currently underway in downtown Laval.

Residential sought

Led by newly-appointed company president Alexandra Rizzuto, the family’s redevelopment strategy was unveiled during a by-invitation gathering of municipal and provincial government officials last week at the Marché 440 site.

Newly-appointed Marché 440 president Alexandra Rizzuto is confident her company will get the go-ahead from the City of Laval to proceed with its more than $300 million project. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)

In keeping with a vision that many retail mall owners have adopted in recent years while adjusting to evolving consumer habits, Marché 440’s owners want to insert an important component of residential development to complement commercial aspects, while creating an environment where both would intersect and seamlessly harmonize.

1,250 housing units

Working with one of Quebec’s leading architects, Sonia Gagné, as well as a seasoned urban planning team overseen by Sylvain Gariépy, they are hoping the city will agree to allow up to 1,250 housing units to be built in an area where pedestrian transit would predominate, and where there would also be plenty of green space, public gathering spots and easy access for bicycles and other “active” modes of transportation.

“This is a very promising project for everybody in Laval – the end-result of more than two years of preparation of which we are very proud. The Aparté au Marché is a unique project in Quebec and places Laval at the forefront in terms of urban planning,” Alexandra Rizzuto said, addressing the gathering, which included City of Laval executive-committee member Sandra Desmeules, leaders from the three main opposition parties, Chomedey MNA Guy Ouellette and Sainte-Rose MNA Christopher Skeete.

More than $300 million

While the overall budget stated by the developer is $300 million, Alexandra Rizzuto said in an interview with the Laval News that the figure is based on a conservative estimate. “That is our bottom line,” she said. “It’s possibly going to be more than that. We’re hoping it’s not, although it may be.”

‘It is a wonderful project that would help revitalize the sector,’ says City of Laval executive-committee member Sandra Desmeules

According to the initial plan, the company would like to conserve the Marché 440’s vocation as a “farmers’ market,” where generations of local agriculturalists and produce growers have come to sell their products to the public. But at the same time, the Rizzutos would like to enhance this aspect with venues for musical and artistic performances.

Additional elements

The planners feel that they would like to include the following elements in the Aparté au Marché project:

  • A green belt along the service road of the A-440, which would serve as a natural barrier between the heavily-trafficked autoroute and the commercial and residential areas;
  • A park space designed for family-type activities;
  • A multi-mode area for sustainable mobility, which would have spaces for car-sharing services like Communauto as well as bike-sharing such as Bixi, along with electric-charge stations;
  • Workshop areas for artists and a multi-purpose room that would feature the works of artisans and artists from the area;
  • Green roofs managed in such a way as to allow future residents to cultivate in community gardens;
  • The site overall would be adapted towards pedestrians and modes of active transportation. According to the planners, a parking area for cars and other motorized vehicles would be underground to free above-ground space.
  • Dedicated work spaces that would allow residents to pursue their professional occupations without having to leave the area they live in.

The Aparté au Marché would eventually consist of five towers, the first of which would be 15 storeys high and located on the western side adjacent to the autoroute. Redeveloped commercial buildings and the outdoor market would be located around this tower, along with some multi-purpose facilities. The four other towers would be located further back in the Aparté au Marché lot, and would be build to denser development standards.

City’s Desmeules optimistic

While there is at least one significant obstacle to resolve before Laval allows the project to go ahead, Sandra Desmeules (the only senior representative of the administration on hand for the unveiling) sounded optimistic.

“It is a wonderful project that would help revitalize the sector, and we are in favour of such a project,” she told the Laval News. “Our employees and the entire administration will be working in partnership with Marché 440 to see this project through. The truth is we want to help them with this as much as possible.”

According to the president of the Marché 440 merchants’ association, shop operators and tenants are also pleased with the plan.

Marché merchants pleased

“The retailers have helped a lot to improve the availability of Quebec food products while adapting themselves for the arrival of a new clientele coming from residential developments near Marché 440,” said Pierre Francoeur. “We are receptive to the idea of participating in this new phase in the development of our marché.”

A view from the edge of Autoroute 440 of what the Marché 440 site looks like now. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)

As for the obstacle, it concerns an administrative undertaking the City of Laval has had underway for some years now: the re-writing of the legal code for its master urban plan, in which residential construction next to major highways would become much more restricted. This is in keeping with an increasingly prevalent urban planning view that noise and pollution from heavily trafficked autoroutes can undermine the health of people living too close to them.

Proximity to autoroute

Although he expressed great enthusiasm overall for the Aparté au Marché project, Sainte-Rose MNA Christopher Skeete acknowledged the potentially contentious issue of its close proximity to the 440 autoroute.

“Definitely a concern,” he said, recalling from his own urban planning studies that 400 metres was usually prescribed as the proper distance between busy roadways and residential neighbourhoods.

However, he added, “This project takes that into consideration. They’re building with that in mind and are following the norms that exist with regards to building near highways.”

City expands forestlands with purchase in de l’Équerre Woods

Martin C. Barry
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City expands forestlands with purchase in de l’Équerre Woods

Pursuing a policy of preserving Laval’s rich heritage of open spaces and greenery, the city recently acquired 5.3 additional hectares of wooded territory in the de l’Équerre Woods, located in the district of Sainte-Rose.

The purchase was made with financial support provided by the provincial government and the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM).

“Here we are taking yet another step to preserve our urban forests, which is part of the goals in the conservation plan for the natural areas of the City of Laval,” said Deputy Mayor Stéphane Boyer who is vice-president of the executive-committee.

“That’s more than five additional hectares being added to the 36 we have already acquired since 2014 for the de l’Équerre woods. We will be increasing the size of the territory the city has in protected areas.

“At the same time, this opens the door to other types of activities for improving the natural areas without making too much impact,” added Boyer. “There are pedestrian, nature and bicycle trails, as well cross-country-ski and snowshoe trails.”

The city has purchased additional properties to expand the de l’Équerre Woods.

According to the city, the two purchased lots, measuring 53,060.8 m2, have a great deal of biodiversity. On them, one can find many different species of trees, as well as many wetlands. The city says it spent $2.5 million on the purchase, including $1.4 million coming from the CMM and Quebec, and $1.1 million from the City of Laval.

Laval allots $1.42 million for anti-social exclusion, anti-poverty

The city has announced that 10 local projects aimed at helping to reduce poverty and curtail social exclusion have been retained to receive a total of $1,423,000 in funding from Laval.

In a statement issued by the city last week, officials said part of the sum is coming from the Fonds Place-du-Souvenir de la Ville de Laval, a fund set up with sums refunded from contractors who were found to have overcharged Laval in the past.

The provincial government is also contributing, and the CISSS de Laval is involved in the project.

“The struggle against poverty and social exclusion is an important issue for our government,” said Quebec Minister of Work, Employment and Social Solidarity Jean Boulet.

“That is why I am proud to provide support for these 10 projects in the Laval region, which are sure to improve living conditions for people in Laval.”

“Thanks to the unwavering support of our partners and the organizations who work among isolated persons, families and vulnerable young people from Laval, we are making this important investment which is essential to the well-being of our community,” said Laval city councillor Nicholas Borne, who sits on the executive-committee with responsibility for social development.

“This is an important step towards meeting objectives set out in our regional policy for social development.”

“Thanks to this financial support, we can be sure that concrete and relevant efforts against poverty and social exclusion are being made for the benefit of those who are most vulnerable,” said CISSS de Laval CEO and president Christian Gagné.

The following organizations and groups in Laval will be receiving subsidies from the allotted funds for the listed projects:

  • Bluff Productions: Les Maux-Dits
  • Youth Consultation Bureau: Collective gathering space 18-25 years
  • Family Help and Assistance Bureau, Place St-Martin: Implementation of Avenir de femmes (phases I and II)
  • Diapason-Jeunesse: L’expression qui nous lie
  • GRT Réseau 2000+: Let’s Talk Community Housing in Laval
  • Habitations l’Envolée de Laval: General assistance for persons in healthy eating habits
  • Maison de quartier Vimont: Youth inclusion
  • Maison des enfants le Dauphin de Laval: Confidences à un Dauphin 2.0
  • Alternative Youth Measures of Laval: Projet SAJ Laval
  • Relais communautaire de Laval: Un habit pour un ami

Laval adds $1.2 million to LPD budget to counter gang-related firearms crisis

Martin C. Barry
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Laval adds $1.2 million to LPD budget to counter gang-related firearms crisis

Action Laval says city is just throwing money at a complex underlying problem

Following a sharp rise in the number of firearms-related crimes in Laval over the past few months, officials with the city as well as the Laval Police Department announced last week that $1.2 million in additional funding is being given to the LPD to hire more staff to deal with what appears to be an escalating crisis.

Not a simple matter

“The answer that we are expected to give following such violent acts is never a simple matter,” Laval Deputy Mayor and executive-committee vice-president Stéphane Boyer said during a press briefing last week during which the additional funding was announced.

“That is why we want to make sure we are taking actions that will have an immediate impact out on the territory, while we continue to pursue long-term efforts in education and prevention,” he continued. “In this way we are making sure that all the families and all people who live in the greater metropolitan region and in Laval can live in peace and security. Laval is a secure city and intends to remain so.”

A cooperative approach

With the money, the LPD plans to hire eight new police officers to be assigned specifically to the problem. “These urban violence phenomena linked to firearms with which we are now faced necessitate an intensification of our actions on the ground as well as greater cooperation with other police forces,” said LPD chief Pierre Brochet.

“That’s why we will be adding to our team some police officers to increase the sustained efforts already undertaken by the LPD,” he added. “These additional personnel will allow us to intensify our interventions, as we counter even more efficiently and sustainably this scourge that is impacting the sense of security among Laval residents. I would like at the same time to single out the devotion and commitment shown by our police officers out on the territory.”

Quebec might get involved

Boyer suggested there may still be a lot of work ahead controlling the local gun and firearms problem, necessitating the involvement of police and public safety officials from a higher level of government.

“In spite of the concrete action taken today by our administration, it is no less important to note that this problem knows no bounds, and that is why we are working in close proximity with the Ministry of Public Security in order to implement a regional approach that is coordinated,” he said.

In another part of the statement issued by the city, they said part of the reason the City of Laval opposed a clause in the federal government’s proposed gun control legislation Bill C-21 was that it sought to delegate the control of handguns to municipalities.

Among the firearms seized by police last year was this handgun which was being used in gang-related criminal activity.

Not a solution, says Action Laval

In addition to beefing up the LPD, the city is currently also urging any Laval resident who feels threatened by the presence of illegal firearms in their vicinity or who has information about the dangerous use of firearms to reach out to the Laval Police through the force’s Info-Line at 450 662-INFO (4636), or by calling 911.

But not everyone is happy with the administration’s response to the firearms crisis. Action Laval leader and mayoral candidate Sophie Trottier and city councillors Isabelle Tassoni (Laval-des-Rapides) and Aglaia Revelakis (Chomedey) denounced the efforts as an attempt to solve a serious problem by throwing money at it, without other means to get at the underlying cause.

More needs to be done

“Faced with this denial of democracy and absence of vision for real solutions, we cannot explain the stubbornness of the administration in refusing to consult the other city councillors as a whole,” they said in a statement, noting that they were never consulted on the city’s $1.2 million course of action.

“In as much as we believe that crime prevention is part of the solution, we remain convinced that much more could have been done,” said Revelakis. “This is a public security issue which is neither political nor partisan. As well, I even questioned the mayor on this issue during the last city council meeting, hoping that we would be consulted on an issue that especially affects the districts that we represent.”

Tackle the gangs, Trottier says

Action Laval’s leader suggested that the administration could have taken a more detailed look at the problem, including taking into account the fact that illicit firearm use is being spread in Laval by street gangs that attract young people.

“Our goal is to rebuild the social networks which would facilitate the creation of an environment conducive to the proper development of each person,” she said, citing Action Laval policy. “In other words, rather than intervening with street gangs, we would prefer that they’re no longer even an option for our youths.”

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