New record for donations set, despite setback from pandemic
A group representing employees and retirees of the City of Laval presented a “virtual” cheque for $371,577.66 to officials with Centraide Montreal last week at the closing of the social services fundraising agency’s latest campaign.
Virtual presentation
The amount represented the total donations made by employees, retirees and elected officials with the City of Laval this year. The presentation was made through a webcast, with campaign ambassadors, Laval mayor Marc Demers and Centraide du Grand Montréal vice-president for philanthropic development Yannick Elliott attending.
“The community organizations at the heart of our neighbourhoods are indispensable resources to provide support to the most vulnerable among us,” said Laval mayor Marc Demers. “I am proud of the great generosity that the employees have once again shown in order to allow these organizations to fulfill their mission completely.”
Success despite pandemic
Honorary co-presidents Stéphane Boyer, who is vice-president of the Laval executive-committee, and Clément Bilodeau, associate executive-director of development at Centraide Montreal, noted the great efforts campaign workers had to make during these uncertain times. Even so, the campaign was successful, they said.
The City of Laval’s employees and retirees have been donating to Centraide Montreal since 1998. Each year, according to the city, more than 25 organizations in Laval receive support from Centraide to help them complete their missions.
During sessions held on Nov. 18 and 25, the City of Laval’s executive-committee decided to award subsidies to two Laval-based community organizations that are providing people in Laval with valuable food and clothing resources during the pandemic.
The executive-committee is awarding a $24,401 subsidy to Le Relais communautaire de Laval. According to a statement issued last week by the city, the group has been hard-hit financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. The subsidy will help Le Relais pursue its mission to offer support to the needy by providing food, clothing as well as workshops on useful topics.
Support for sports
At the same time, the executive-committee awarded a $15,000 subsidy to the Regroupement du sport à Laval ARSEL/CSL, to supplement its Excellence Sports Laval program.
According to the city, the program provides support to elite and promising young athletes from Laval by making various kinds of professional services available to them, to prepare them mentally and physically, as well as nutritionally, while also furnishing physiotherapy.
The city says the Regroupement du sport à Laval ARSEL/CSL also helps meet the needs of a growing number of athletes from Laval who are increasingly active in provincial and nationwide sporting events, as well as those who will be participating in the Jeux du Québec finals taking place in Laval next year.
Executive-committee members
The City of Laval’s executive-committee meets each week to make decisions on a variety of issues. The executive-committee includes the following people: Mayor Marc Demers, vice-president Stéphane Boyer (also councillor for Duvernay–Pont-Viau) councillors Sandra Desmeules (Concorde–Bois-de-Boulogne), Ray Khalil (Sainte-Dorothée), Virginie Dufour (Sainte-Rose) and associate members Nicholas Borne (Laval-les-Îles) and Yannick Langlois (L’Orée-des-Bois).
Report suggests leading executive-committee member engaged in illicit fundraising
The political future of a leading member of Laval mayor Marc Demers’s administration was hanging in the balance earlier this week following published reports suggesting she may have engaged in an illicit political fundraising scheme.
Executive-committee member Virginie Dufour, who represents the Sainte-Rose district, claims she is innocent of any wrongdoing and has asked the Quebec Director General of Elections and the Laval Police Department to investigate.
Refunded donations
In the meantime, the Journal de Montréal said on Monday that it had obtained a recording in which one of Dufour’s political organizers is heard talking about being refunded donations he made to Dufour’s election campaigns.
‘I have a work ethic that is flawless and I have absolutely nothing to hide,’ says Dufour
In the recording dating from last July, according to the Francophone daily, Normand Cusson is speaking with his spouse about serving as a “frontman” for contributions made to Dufour, and how she reimbursed him the amounts afterwards.
Electoral rules are clear
Under Canadian and Quebec electoral regulations, serving as a frontman to conceal the contributions of another person or organization is illegal. Penalties ranging up to $20,000 can be imposed upon conviction on the donor as well as the candidate who refunds a donation under such circumstances.
The issue of illegal campaign fundraising is an especially sensitive one in Laval. Former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt’s Parti PRO des Lavallois was found to have extensively used frontman fundraising tactics. Vaillancourt was convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to six years imprisonment in 2016.
Serious allegations, says Demers
The year before that, six Parti PRO city councillors were censured by the DGEQ for engaging in illegal political financing practices. In a statement Mayor Marc Demers issued earlier this week after listening to a copy of the recording, he said he met with Dufour the very day the allegations against her surfaced.
“The allegations made regarding Virginie Dufour are serious, and if they turn out to be well-founded, are unacceptable,” said Demers. Normand Cusson, for his part, confirmed to the Montreal daily that it was indeed his voice on the recording. However, he insisted he had not been speaking truthfully to his spouse because he wanted to appease her after she became too insistent about his involvement in politics.
Wife says she refused
Cusson was the campaign manager for Virginie Dufour’s 2013 campaign when she was first elected. He said she never actually reimbursed him. Cusson’s wife said she was invited to serve as a frontman for political donations, but that she refused. Dufour issued the following statement earlier this week: “I have a work ethic that is flawless and I have absolutely nothing to hide. On the contrary, I want light to be cast on this! That is why I personally came forward to ask for an inquiry to be conducted by competent authorities in my regard.” She said she hoped to repair any damage done to her reputation in the coming weeks.
S&P Global renews City of Laval’s ‘AA’ credit rating
The City of Laval says its official credit standing as issued by S&P Global Ratings on Nov. 20 remains ‘AA’ with a stable outlook – and this in spite of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.
The report confirmed that Laval’s economy remains strong, dynamic and diversified. The city maintains that its sound financial practices are at the root of this success.
“This rating, which attests to the quality of our management, allows Laval to be favourably positioned in order to pursue the realization of investment projects necessary for the needs of a growing population,” said Mayor Marc Demers.
“It is at the same time the reflection of the commitment of the administration and the city council to maintain the attractiveness of the city and to propel it towards a robust economic rebirth in 2021,” he added.
In the midst of discussing the weather, an associate burst out “ we Canadians only care about health and the weather. That’s why we often ask, ‘how are you, nice day eh’, in the same sentence”. To which another quickly added, “health, weather and American politics.” So true. We are barely half as interested in Canadian politics as we are in US presidential elections, senate and house of representatives to a lesser degree, and only because the number of republicans or Democrats elected could influence their president.
The election of Donald Trump is the most talked about US President in our memory. He is ever controversial. Never a day has gone by without hearing, reading, or seeing Donald Trump, for the past four years. No other leader has gotten as much air time and taken up so much media space according to a Boston based data company that analyses Google searches. Commented a New Jersey political science professor, Matthew Hale, “Previous presidents had a message of the day. Trump has a message of the right now. Lots more to Google when you bounce around like he does”, especially those 2 a.m. tweets. Saying Trump is controversial is an understatement. It’s a wonder that news web sites don’t crash on some news days. Trump has taken credit for the DOW JONES hitting the 30 thousand mark for the first time in history, as well as vaccines arriving in unbelievable record time.
While vaccines may arrive in the U.S. as early as December 11th, Justin Trudeau says only one half of Canadians will be inoculated by “September ‘21, if all goes well”. Maybe. I have difficulty believing it’s only because we have no made in Canada vaccine. While the rest of the western world was signing “firm unconditional vaccine purchase agreements, our Liberal government was posturing about making sure the poorer countries had vaccines”. Our vaccines will arrive months late not because we don’t have a giant vaccine factory in Canada but because the liberal government was too late committing to sign, and we ended up at the end of the line. Britain will be getting its vaccine well ahead of Canada because it placed an order early with U.S. Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech for their vaccine. And that vaccine may get approval by December 1st or 2nd, even before the U.S.! Our liberal government can not tell us when Health Canada will approve the vaccine, when it will arrive, when and how and to whom it will be distributed. When asked, our Health Minister Hajdu replied “ It’s complicated”. Is that it? Is this the transparency that Trudeau promised? This is truly disheartening. Hajdu should be fired for incompetence. Our government dropped the ball, plain and simple. And it’s not because we do not manufacture it in Canada. Frankly, we arrived late at the game with no reserved seat. We did manufacture vaccines decades ago. Some of you may remember the names Connaught Laboratories of Toronto, and Institut Armand Frappier from Montreal. We sold them to the French and the British. Today we have Quebec’s Medicago and Saskatchewan’s VIDO-InterVac but we do not have the means to produce millions of vaccines in Canada.
All this leads to a troubling statement we heard from our Prime Minister. “The pandemic is giving Canada an opportunity to reset our economy on extreme poverty, inequality and climate change”. Why is he making windy rhetoric from the Swiss based Economic Forum a Canadian government commitment? What about a “reset” to plan for the next pandemic without dictating our social lives, to fix our long-term care homes, take better care and better prepare our health care workers, stimulate our economy, offer incentives to small and medium size businesses which employ most of Canada’s workers.
We have not met a carbon emission target, ever. The latest is zero by 2050. All talk. Ironically, Canada is a leader in capturing carbon emissions before they are released into the air. An excellent way to reduce emissions instead of taxing us for carbon. An RBC memo speaks of “carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)”. But that would mean government investment in our biggest economic contributors, oil, gas, and heavy industry like concrete and steel production. These are clearly not favourites for our social activist Prime Minister.
Let’s face it. Governments have failed us. The list of ideas for a better tomorrow is long my friends. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that any of our current elected leaders have the political will, chutzpah, or the know-how, to fulfill this vision.
Guiding light of anglo social services group recognized for her contributions
Agape secretary-treasurer Elizabeth ‘Betty’ McLeod, who for many years was the driving force behind the Notre Dame Blvd. social services provider, was reacted with modesty after being presented with the City of Laval’s Hosia Award for social development on Nov. 17.
Although the City of Laval cancelled the usual activities this year surrounding the annual Hosia Awards for volunteerism because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the awards themselves were presented individually to the 25 people chosen in 2020.
Well-deserved recognition
A Hosia statuette was presented to McLeod by Laval city councillor for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, the district where she resides. The presentation took place outside the front entrance of Agape Inc., where staff, family members and friends gathered for several minutes with social distancing to congratulate Betty for her well-deserved recognition from the city.
Elizabeth McLeod, centre, is seen here with relatives, friends and Agape staff outside Agape Inc. headquarters after she was presented with her Hosia Award from the city on Nov. 17. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
“Mrs. McLeod has been a volunteer for many, many years, and, of course, volunteerism in Laval is what keeps all our organizations running,” said Trottier, who is also leader of the official opposition in Laval city council.
Betty McLeod said her Hosia Award was “for the wonderful work of all the people who are here [at Agape]. They’re beautiful people.“
‘Extraordinary work,’ said Trottier
“I want to thank you Mrs. McLeod for your dedication, and also to Agape which provides services to an Anglophone clientèle,” he added. “It is very important that all the Anglophones in Laval have access to these kinds of services close to their homes. We will be working with her to meet this objective. Your work is truly extraordinary.”
For her part, Betty, who was momentarily overwhelmed by emotion, said she was “humbled by the experience,” while emphasizing that she felt the Agape staff should also be recognized for their efforts. “I want my staff to enjoy this glorious day, because this is not for me,” she said. “It’s for the wonderful work of all the people who are here. They’re beautiful people. You couldn’t ask for better.”
Importance of volunteerism
In a description of the Hosia Awards on its website, the City of Laval refers to volunteerism as a great asset and “one of the unshakeable foundations of our community. The City of Laval thus hopes to encourage and thank all those women and men who contribute to the 460 organizations in the domains of arts and culture, the environment, leisure, social development and sports,” through a wide range of programs.
The city has been giving out the Hosia Awards since 1984. This year was exceptional, in that normally the awards are handed out during a large gala held in an auditorium, and usually with a major Quebec entertainer performing a show. The COVID-19 pandemic made this impossible this year.
Agape Senior Wellness Centre Provides Flu Vaccine to over 100 Seniors
On Nov. 6 and 11, the Agape charitable organization provided flu shots to approximately 117 seniors at the Senior Wellness Centre in Laval in its latest effort to promote the health and well-being of Laval’s English-speaking language minority community.
“This was such an important event for us,” said Kevin McLeod, executive director at Agape. “This would never have been possible if it weren’t for our local partners at the 24-hour Pharmaprix close to our centre. When we approached pharmacist-owners Issam Merrouni, Mohamed Suhel Jetha and Mahmoud El-Achkar, they were very excited about the idea, stating that they wanted to give back to the community.”
The event aligned well with Agape’s Networking Partnership Initiative (NPI) program, which supports the development and mobilization of community health and social services networks throughout Laval.
Funded by Health Canada and managed by the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN), this program engages networks across Quebec with local and regional partners in order to improve access to health and social services for the minority English-speaking population.
“We’re providing support to the public heath system that is so overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic right now,” said McLeod. “We’re building major partnerships with local organizations such as Pharmaprix (situated at 965 boul. Curé-Labelle in Chomedey) and we’re improving access to health services for English-speaking seniors.”
Agape is also in the planning phases, from 2020 to 2023, to hopefully create a larger Senior Wellness Centre that will offer a wide variety of activities, wellness presentations, workshops, outings and courses. McLeod said he is hopeful that once the centre reopens in 2021, it will be bigger and better than ever.
“I’m very thankful to the Agape team who put this together,” he said. “Carla, Varun, Natalina and Ian did a fantastic job and we received many compliments from seniors themselves. Andrew and Marlene were also instrumental in making phone calls to seniors.
“I believe that we were successful in not only providing seniors with hard to get flu shots,” McLeod added. “We were also successful in offering a safe environment including several hand sanitizers, free pens, marked pathways, face masks and 2-metre distancing rules at all times. Important to mention is that we also had two of the most polite pharmacist-owners on the planet who administered the vaccines themselves. Issam and Mohamed were awesome.”
Legion Branch 251 donates $1,000 to Agape
On Nov. 16, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 251’s Christopher Wheatley presented Agape with a donation of $1,000 for Agape’s annual Christmas Food Basket Drive.
“The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 251 has been supporting Agape for many years now and we are so grateful for their support,” said Agape executive-director Kevin McLeod.
“This donation comes at a key time, as we suspect that with the COVID-19 pandemic, donations will be likely to decrease this year,” he added.
Agape’s Annual Christmas Basket campaign will run from Dec. 10 to Dec. 19, and Agape is only receiving monetary, food and new toy donations until the end of 2020. For more information about donations, please visit www.agapeassociationinc.com/donate.
The current issue of the Laval News volume 28-23 published December 2nd, 2020. 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, December 2nd, 2020 issue.
Some residents of Laval’s Saint-François and Duvernay-Est neighbourhoods may have noticed recently that the old Saint-Noël-Chabanel community centre was demolished around the end of the month of November.
The building had been closed since 2010, and was considered worn out and lacking in proper security.
The City of Laval is currently studying future uses for the now vacant site, while at the same time conducting preliminary work for the eventual construction of a local services centre (CSPE) for Laval’s eastern areas.
“This is good news, since we can now deal with the future of the site, which will be grassed over in the spring of 2021 while waiting for a decision on its use,” said Saint-François city councillor Éric Morasse, who is also an associate member of the city’s executive-committee.
Morasse said various options are currently under study. Regarding the CPSE, the building will include community meeting rooms, a multimedia events room, a neighbourhood police station, and a branch of the city’s public library network.
Montreal-based paper manufacturer Cascades Inc. announced on Wednesday that it will be closing its Laval napkin-making facility at the end of June.
The company says it will offer relocation options to as many of the 54 workers currently employed at the facility as possible, and those unable or unwilling to relocate will be offered assistance to find new employment.
According to Cascades, the COVID-19 pandemic greatly reduced demand for paper products by clients, many of whom are in the restaurant, hotel and institutional services business.
Citing high transportation costs, Cascades said it has decided to consolidate production at other facilities.
Firefighters with the Service d’incendie de Laval were still on the scene late Wednesday morning on Berri St. in Pont-Viau where a two-storey apartment block was heavily damaged by fire.
According to initial reports, a small cannabis growing operation was found by firefighters on an upper floor, although it appeared to be legal.
Firefighters were on the scene since around 3 am, when they saw dense smoke billowing from an upper level. In all, three alarms were sounded.
Des Laurentides Blvd. between Lévesque and Tourangeau were shut to traffic early Wednesday morning. No injuries were reported.
A 58-year-old man narrowly escaped life-threatening injuries on Monday morning when the sub-compact car he was driving along Route 125 while merging onto the Autoroute 440 service road in eastern Laval was broadsided by a dump truck.
The Laval Police Department and the Laval Fire Department were summoned to the scene around 9:15 am. The LFD had to use their “jaws of life” tool to force open the badly-damaged Honda Civic and free the driver.
While the car was badly damaged on the driver-side, the driver himself was reported to have suffered mostly neck pain and light injuries.
According to the SPL who reconstructed the scenario leading to the collision, the Honda’s driver appears to have neglected seeing the dump truck coming from behind on the A-440 service road as the Honda was completing its merge.
One in ten SMEs can no longer find an insurance provider, says national lobby group
More than half of small businesses have seen their insurance premiums increase over the past 12 months, with one in six reporting an increase of 25 per cent or more, according to some of the latest survey results issued by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
With those figures in mind, the CFIB is calling on the insurance industry and provincial governments to ensure small businesses have access to affordable insurance coverage.
“Businesses can’t legally operate without insurance, but many have been priced out or are unable to find an insurer willing to cover them,” says Corinne Pohlmann, Senior Vice-President of National Affairs at t he CFIB.
Insurance situation dire
“It would be in everyone’s interest – business owners and insurance providers – to maintain those relationships and work together rather than shutting out a large sector of the economy from this essential service,” addes Pohlmann. “We are pleased that the industry has tried to step up to find solutions but the situation remains dire for too many small businesses.”
The CFIB is calling on the insurance industry and provincial governments to make sure small businesses have access to affordable coverage
According to Pohlmann, Canadian businesses in the hospitality (25 per cent), transportation (23 per cent) and agriculture (22 per cent) sectors were more likely to report a premium hike of 25 per cent or more in the past year.
Insurers reluctant to cover
In addition, nearly a tenth (9 per cent) of all businesses in Canada say they were not able to find an insurer willing to offer coverage for their business needs in the past 12 months, but that number rises to 14 per cent of hospitality businesses and 12 per cent of those in transportation.
The CFIB says the pandemic has exacerbated small businesses’ insurance needs: 40 per cent say COVID-19 has increased their risk of general liability. The federation says it has kept governments and the insurance industry informed about the needs of small businesses and presented its latest survey findings recently to the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s National Commercial Insurance Task Force.
Liability immunity
To move forward, the CFIB is recommending to provincial governments across Canada that they provide liability immunity during the pandemic to all businesses performing services in accordance with applicable public health guidelines while acting in good faith. To the insurance industry, the CFIB suggests adopting a moratorium on cost increases and policy cancellations during the pandemic.
“The insurance industry is willing to listen to small business owners’ concerns and are trying to provide solutions with some providers proactively offering relief measures to their clients,” added Pohlmann. “I encourage businesses to call their insurance broker and see if there is anything available for them. At the same time, CFIB will continue working to ensure fairness for those still struggling to access coverage.”
