A motorcyclist who suffered serious injuries after colliding with a cement wall outside the Carrefour Laval shopping mall on Saturday night is recovering in hospital, according to the Laval Police Department.
While driving across the parking lot around 10:15 Saturday night, the motorcyclist, said to be in his early 20s, hit a speed bump and was thrown from his vehicle against a concrete wall, said an LPD spokesperson.
Having sustained serious injuries, he was taken to hospital by Urgences Santé.
The LPD is hoping it will be able to reconstruct the circumstances of the accident from any video cameras at the shopping centre which may have captured images.
What is less certain is whether there were any witnesses, since the mall was closed at the time.
Elected officials from the City of Laval were on hand on Friday at a spot alongside Autoroute 440 near Autoroute 19 and Route 125 to symbolically mark the start of work on the new Val-des-Brises interchange, which is expected to improve traffic management in the area.
The $25-million project will include a new overpass and creation of several highway access ramps and streets. In the end, Robert-Bourassa Blvd. will be joined up to Gaumont St. along the soon-to-be-created Michel-Ange Blvd.
From the left, Laval city councillor for Val-des-Arbres Christiane Yoakim assists Mayor Marc Demers in turning the first soil on Friday Aug. 14 for a two-year road construction project near Autoroute 440 that is expected to improve traffic in the area.
The project will be taking place over two years, with the Quebec Transport Ministry mandated to do the work while also supervising. Bike paths and pedestrian walkways will be integrated into the project at the same time.
Mayor Marc Demers, who did the honors along with Val-des-Arbres city councillor Christiane Yoakim in symbolically turning over the first soil, said the project will improve the flow of traffic between the north and south of Laval, while also boosting business in commercial areas and helping to stimulate employment at the same time.
On Monday, Transport Quebec issued a statement announcing the official start of the work, most of which is expected to take place during the day, although some will take place at night in order to limit the impact on traffic.
Taking place over the next two years, the project is expected to close that section of the A-440 partly or completely at times, although detours will be set up and speed will be reduced in these areas. The work is expected to grind to a halt during the coming winter.
The Journal de Montréal was reporting on Saturday that seven residents at a Notre Dame Blvd. seniors retirement complex had been diagnosed over the past week with COVID-19, leading to stricter enforcement of sanitary and distancing requirements.
According to Montreal daily, an asymptomatic employee is believed to be the source of the outbreak at the complex, which has several residential towers.
Management at the complex maintains that systematic procedures for tracking and safeguarding against the COVID-19 virus led to the discovery of the infected employee, and subsequently to everyone else who came into contact with that person.
There’s been an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Boisé Notre Dame senior citizens’ retirement complex on Notre Dame Blvd. in Laval.
According to the Journal, four of those who were found to have caught the virus have now been hospitalized, while three others are in isolation in their apartments.
Management at Boisé Notre Dame is asking all visitors to wear face masks in common areas of the buildings, as well as in private apartments. The same is being asked of Boisé Notre Dame residents when they go out on visits with family or friends.
In the meantime, the CISSS de Laval is said to be monitoring the situation at Boisé Notre Dame very closely.
The Department of Public Health for the Laval region is asking all persons who attended a party held at a private home in Sainte-Rose recently to come forward and agree to be tested for infection by COVID-19.
According to the department, six people who attended the gathering last week have already tested positive for the virus. Up to 40 youths attended the party and they have all been isolated.
The department says that anyone who attended the gathering in question, or any other large party around the same time, should be tested.
Under current regulations in effect in Quebec since the beginning of the pandemic around five months ago, private gatherings of more than 10 people remain forbidden and social distancing rules must be followed.
Patty Hajdu, federal Minister of Health, has announced an investment of more than $7.85 million over four years towards 12 new projects that will support individuals living with dementia, their families, caregivers and communities.
Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu.
The federal government is funding these projects through the Dementia Community Investment (DCI), which supports community-based projects that address the challenges of dementia.
Each project funded by the DCI involves people with lived experience in helping to design, deliver or evaluate the project.
With more than 432,000 Canadians over the age of 65 living with dementia, communities across Canada are seeing the impacts this condition has on both those living with dementia and those who care for them.
The number of people living with dementia is expected to increase, making improving the lives and wellbeing of those impacted by dementia a priority for Canada, according the federal health ministry.
These 12 new projects will address the needs of individuals in Canadian communities in areas such as:
Raising awareness and de-stigmatizing dementia;
Fostering effective communications between care providers, and people living with dementia and their families to mitigate stress and enhance wellbeing;
And creating community action plans for the social inclusion of people living with dementia.
The projects announced on Aug. 13 support one of the three objectives of Canada’s first national dementia strategy, A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Aspire — improving the quality of life of people living with dementia and their caregivers, says the government.
In addition to the projects funded under the DCI, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is announcing the first project under the new Dementia Strategic Fund (DSF). PHAC is providing $163,603 to the Native Women’s Association of Canada for a project entitled Stigma: An Exploration of Lived Experience, Understandings and Behaviours of Dementia within Indigenous Communities.
The DSF supports the implementation of key elements of the national dementia strategy, including a national public education/awareness campaign, targeted awareness raising initiatives, initiatives that support access to and use of dementia guidance, and the creation of a comprehensive online portal to share dementia information resources with Canadians.
Health Canada has issued an advisory saying it is aware of several cases of serious harm resulting in hospitalization after children have accidentally consumed illegal edible cannabis products. These products appeared similar to regular candies or foods and were stored in locations such as the fridge or freezer and without child-resistant packaging.
All cannabis should be stored securely and out of reach of children, Health Canada says.
Obtaining cannabis from illegal sources can carry potential health risks as the products are not regulated and do not meet the strict safety and quality controls as set out in the Cannabis Act and its Regulations. These controls address issues such as the maximum amount of THC, product ingredients, packaging, labelling, production, testing, and sale, including appeal to young persons.
Canadians are reminded that they should only purchase cannabis from authorized provincial and territorial retailers, online or in brick-and-mortar stores. Legal cannabis products must be sold in child-resistant and tamper-evident packaging, and the immediate container must be opaque or translucent. Edible cannabis products may legally contain a maximum of 10 milligrams of THC per package.
All cannabis should be stored securely and out of reach of children and young persons. Cannabis should always be kept in its original child-resistant packaging. It is important to note that the tamper-evident feature on cannabis packaging is no longer effective after it has been opened.
Who is affected? Children and young persons are at risk of serious harm if they accidentally ingest cannabis.
Affected products Improperly stored cannabis from legal sources and all cannabis purchased outside the legal supply chain.
What consumers should do
If you possess cannabis, store it away from children and young persons. Be especially careful with edible cannabis, which can be mistaken for regular food or drink. Consider storing cannabis products in a locked drawer or box, and separate from regular food or drinks.
Always purchase cannabis products from authorized provincial and territorial retailers. Cannabis products purchased outside the legal, regulated supply chain are not subject to any quality control or safety measures.
Even adults may be unable to spot the difference between a regular candy and an edible, or a cookie with or without cannabis. By properly storing and labelling cannabis products, there is less risk of accidental consumption.
If someone is having a serious medical emergency related to a cannabis product, call 911, or contact your regional poison center. If you have questions or concerns about cannabis and your health, consult your health care practitioner.
Tips for recognizing legal cannabis
Cannabis products sold by licensed retailers, containing more than 0.3% THC, are required to have an excise stamp at the point of sale. If a packaged cannabis product does not have an excise stamp at the time of purchase, it is an illegal product. Find your provincial excise stamp here.
Legal and regulated cannabis have a number of control measures in place to minimize harms from cannabis use, including plain packaging and labelling that contains appropriate warning messages and important information about the product (e.g., THC and CBD content).
Provincially and territorially authorized retailers are the only legal way to purchase cannabis for non-medical purposes in Canada. Each province and territory is responsible for determining how cannabis is distributed and sold within its jurisdiction. Most provinces and territories list the locations where legal cannabis can be purchased online and in brick-and-mortar stores.
If you purchase edible cannabis, remember that legal edible cannabis products are limited to a maximum of 10 mg THC per package. If the retailer where you are considering making your purchase sells edible cannabis products that contain more than 10 mg of THC per package, then the retailer is selling illicit cannabis that is unregulated and untested.
What Health Canada is doing Under the Cannabis Act, and its regulations, Health Canada has created a strict legal framework for controlling the production, distribution, sale and possession of cannabis across Canada, and has established requirements for packaging and labelling of cannabis products to:
minimize appeal to children and young persons;
protect against accidental consumption; and
provide consumers with information they need to make informed decisions, including the potential risks and harms of cannabis use.
The Sainte-Dorothée Community Centre in Laval’s Sainte-Dorothée district has just received LEED Gold certification from the Canada Green Building Council.
Laval now has four buildings with the environmental certification
The Sainte-Dorothée Community Centre has just received LEED Gold certification, the highest distinction bestowed on building owners for environmentally-sound design and architecture.
Completed in 2019, the community centre is the fourth building owned by the City of Laval to reach this level of certification awarded by the Canada Green Building Council. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program standard that is used worldwide.
Criteria that must be met in order to meet LEED standards include: environmental management of the building site, efficient management of water resources, energy efficiency, choice of resources and materials, and environmental quality of building interiors.
Stéfanie Thompson took part in 2018 Sainte-Rose Art Symposium
An accomplished nature painter from Quebec’s James Bay region, who was among the many artists who took part in the 2018 Sainte-Rose Art Symposium, will be displaying her works all year around in Laval now after being invited to show them at the Polyclinique médicale Fabreville. “I am so thankful that the clinic is helping me make my art travel and shine from north to south,” said Stéfanie Thompson, who was featured in the Laval News’s coverage of the 2018 Sainte-Rose Art Symposium. File photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News
CAQ finance minister sees balanced budgets and stable taxes in five years
While everyone at the federal, provincial or municipal levels seems to be talking about economic recovery during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Laval Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes the local business community needs to understand what help is available in order to seize the opportunities offered by the three levels of government.
That at least was a leading point offered by the LCCI prior to an online Zoom video forum they sponsored last month on post-COVID-19 recovery. Among the many elected officials who took part were Quebec Finance Minister Éric Girard who is also Minister Responsible for Laval.
Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard (seen during the LCCI’s online forum) says the CAQ government sees balanced budgets and doesn’t foresee higher taxes five years from now as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the province’s economy.
Buy-local policy
LCCI president Michel Rousseau said buy-local policies that have been emerging almost everywhere as one of the efforts to reverse the economic downturn is the way to go if businesses and individuals in Laval also want to dig ourselves out.
While China used to get failing grades for eco-responsibility, Rousseau suggested the rest of the world will have to wake up and realize that the world’s largest economy has become competitive even in this respect, adding to all other advantages that favour China now.
Finance Minister Girard was asked what he thought Quebec’s economy and the public finance situation might look like five years from now when presumably the pandemic is over. “In five years we will have returned to a balanced budget,” he responded.
“Taxes will not have been increased because we already have a fiscal standing that is significant. In the normal course of events, we would have preferred to keep on reducing the fiscal burden by $2 billion a year if we remained elected. There’s no question of heading down that road.”
‘According to means’
On a more somber note, the finance minister added that “we will have to live according to our means, that is with a level of expenses in conjunction with the revenues of the government.”
Girard was asked how he had been viewing the relaunch of the economy since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. “It’s important to say at the outset that what has been going on is first of all a pandemic which has brought about a global recession of the greatest magnitude since the Second World War, and there is a risk of the recession lasting longer than the pandemic,” he said.
‘In five years we will have returned to a balanced budget,’ said Quebec Finance Minister Éric Girard
He pointed out that recessions in turn create “important challenges in public finance” that last even longer than the recessions themselves. “At the economic level, Quebec had to confine itself, that is we had to shut 40 per cent of the economy for two months. And the impact of this is that our unemployment rate has dropped up to 17 per cent. We lost 800,000 jobs. And then began the period of deconfinement.
Jobs recovered, Girard says
“We were closed for March, April and to mid-May, and we recovered 30 per cent of the jobs – 230,000 jobs in May – March and April being the heart of the crisis,” he continued, suggesting that additional recovery of employment also took place in June, while the trend probably also continued through July so that Quebec effectively recovered up to 50 per cent of all jobs lost during the pandemic.
However, Girard warned that by September when it becomes more obvious that a significant number of businesses across Quebec haven’t recovered, the challenge will be greater. He said it was important during the first wave of the pandemic that governments, including Quebec’s, provide significant amounts of financial assistance to workers and businesses in order to ensure that the economy would continue to flow as usual and that it wouldn’t stagnate.
He acknowledged that the CAQ government’s decision to postpone payment of income tax amounts due for 2019 has proven to be one of Quebec’s most popular measures during the crisis, while support provided by Investissement Québec (the government’s targeted business development branch) has also been effective.
Trends to accelerate
“The economy is going to change, but the crisis is mostly going to accelerate trends which were already there,” Girard said. “Family/work conciliation, being at home, online retail: these are trends that were there before the pandemic and will be accentuated by it.” As for how the CAQ government sees the relaunch of the economy unfolding, the finance minister said they see it happening along certain key axes.
He suggested renewal of public infrastructure could prove to be important because the private sector tends to withdraw during recessions. “The government has a role to play by increasing public investments temporarily,” said Girard, noting for example that construction workers need to be kept busy.
Also taking part in the forum were Laval mayor Marc Demers, Sainte-Rose MNA Christopher Skeete, Vimont MNA Jean Rousselle, Laval-des-Rapides MNA Saul Polo, Vimy MP Annie Koutrakis, and Laval executive-committee vice-president Stéphane Boyer (who is in charge of economic development dossiers with the city).
Developer has to modify rejected plan before city will consider it
With the preliminary results of a recent poll on the redevelopment of Laval’s Île Gagnon suggesting a majority of nearby residents oppose the project, officials with the City of Laval say the city will not be dealing with the developer’s current plans and will be refusing a zoning change the company had requested.
“The position of the city has not changed since the beginning: the developer’s project must have the requisite social accessibility in order for it to be implemented,” Mayor Marc Demers said this week in a statement. “Therefore the developer will have to modify his projects and obtain the support of the community in order to move forward.”
Not going ahead: Dufour
Sainte-Rose city councillor and executive-committee member Virginie Dufour said that in as much as she needed to stay neutral while the survey was underway, she hadn’t commented up to now, but was finally ready to make a statement.
The luxury development on Île Gagnon would be located immediately next to the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille Îles, which is a public outdoor recreation area accessible to everyone. Photo: Martin C. Barry
“Now that we know that the projects do not have the support of the citizens, I want to assure them that we are not moving ahead with the projects in their current form,” she said. “I understand that the citizens have at heart the protection of their environment, a value that I share and that I defend at every opportunity.
“Finally, I would like to assure the citizens of my district of the fact that the present zoning of Île Gagnon only allows limited development, which is somewhat similar to what would be allowed with a protected status,” she added.
Initial plans rejected
According to the initial plans by property developer François Duplantie which have now essentially been rejected, 700 condos, a hotel, a spa, a gym and two restaurants would have been built on Île Gagnon starting in 2022. A second phase of the project would take place later in nearby Sainte-Rose where development would include 970 apartments or condos, a retirement residence, a CHSLD and an entertainment auditorium.
Although it’s not the first time a developer has set its sights on transforming Île Gagnon, the task of turning the island into an exclusive luxury destination seemed challenging due to the fact it is located immediately adjacent to the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, a public wildlife reserve where access is open to everyone.
Developer’s statement
In a statement issued by property developer François Duplantie, he said the survey outcome had been expected. “We hear the citizens affected by the projects and we are willing to work with them and with the city to make the projects more socially acceptable,” Duplantie said.
‘The developer will have to modify his projects and obtain the support of the community,’ says Mayor Marc Demers
Duplantie said it was his company’s hope to work with the city and local residents on a “co-design” approach to the projects in order to make them acceptable to everyone. “Our primary motivation is the preservation and the protection of the environment and we are determined to demonstrate that we can achieve this here in Laval in 2020,” he said.
CRE de Laval’s position
The Conseil régional de l’environnement (CRE) de Laval also issued a statement. In it, they asked the City of Laval to maintain the current zoning of Île Gagnon, in accordance with the revised land use and development plan, as adopted by City of Laval in August 2017 and the Quebec government in December 2017.
“We would also like to highlight the fact that notwithstanding its new urban designation, Île Gagnon is still included in a peculiar ecological planning area for which the city is committed to create living environments that promote the well-being of Laval citizens and the protection of biodiversity and to limit tree felling,” the CRE said.
Heritage issue, CRE says
“Moreover, still according to the revised land use and development plan, the archipelago of the Rivière-des-Mille-Îles that includes Île Gagnon remains an integral part of heritage places of metropolitan interest,” they added.
“Even though City of Laval has modified the designation status of Île Gagnon, we are asking that the existing guidelines of the revised land use and development plan are respected and that regulations resulting from these guidelines get elaborated.”
