Following the Demers administration’s recent announcement of new measures to deal with racial discrimination, Chomedey city councillor Aglaia Revelakis says Laval should start a new non-partisan committee to deal with issues involving the Laval Police Department and multicultural communities.
“The City of Laval is extending its hand towards nearly one-third of its population and this is a remarkable gesture,” she said in a statement. “We must nonetheless involve representatives of these very people in the actions to be taken.”
Chomedey councillor Aglaia Revelakis wants the city to set up a committee to examine issues concerning relations between the police and Laval’s multicultural communities.
Saint-Vincent-de-Paul city councillor Paolo Galati, who is supporting Revelakis’s motion, agrees that a committee made up of elected representatives would be able to delve seriously into examining the matter at hand.
“The participants in this consultation should be heard directly by their elected representatives,” Galati said. “The separation between the executive-committee and the police is a basic democratic principle, and the suggestion of my colleague for a non-partisan committee of council is a means that will ensure the complete transparency of the effort.”
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced this week that Robert Kalfayan, a Laval resident, pleaded guilty at the Laval courthouse to tax evasion charges. He was fined $495,614 in relation to the offences, on top of having to pay the income tax and all penalties and interests that apply.
Mr. Kalfayan was arrested on December 23, 2019, at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport upon his return to Canada.
The CRA investigation showed that, for the years 2009 to 2013, he tried to evade the payment of more than $700,000 in federal income tax using a complex scheme to shield his luxurious Laval residence from CRA collection measures.
The scheme included a fake loan, a nominee and several international bank transfers, as well as the use of one of his companies incorporated in Belize, Lowcrest Marketing.
The investigation also revealed that, for the 2014 and 2015 tax years, Mr. Kalfayan contravened the Income Tax Act by making a fraudulent proposal to creditors in which he failed to declare all of his international assets (real estate, cryptocurrency and cash) in order to evade the payment of income tax.
Last week, the City of Laval reached what appears to be the closing chapter in the saga involving former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt, with the sale of Vaillancourt’s luxury condo at a price considerably lower than its initial estimated $1 million price tag.
Ex Mayor of Laval Gilles Vaillancourt
Located in a condo tower in Laval’s exclusive Île Paton neighbourhood, the city took possession of the condo after Vaillancourt’s departure from office as charges of corruption against him were being made.
The ex-mayor eventually agreed to an $8.6 million settlement with the city, the condo being a part of it.
According to city council documents, the city stands to make a little more than $127,000 net from the sale, since the unit’s value ended up being estimated at considerably less than its million dollar value, and the broker stands to earn a $22,645 commission.
However, after being initially placed on sale more than a year ago, there were no buyers until recently.
Vaillancourt ended up being sentenced to six years imprisonment and was paroled in December 2018.
During the July 7 online meeting of Laval city council, the council members modified By-Law L-12430 in order to better protect dogs and other pets, as well as members of the public, on Laval’s territory.
Among other things, the new rules will better describe and define certain species of animals being kept as pets:
In a back yard shared by multiple dwelling tenants or owners, a dog will have to be kept on a leash measuring 1.85 meters.
Regarding potentially dangerous dogs:
New conditions for dog owners: rabies vaccination is obligatory, as is a front harness.
The conditions are permanent.
The city now has the power to seize animals if the conditions aren’t respected more than once.
In a public area, a dog that has been declared potentially dangereous must at all times be muzzled.
A warning of the presence of a dangerous dog must be posted outside a property.
Luxury condos and resort would be built at former home of Céline Dion
After several years of relative peace with its urban development dossiers, the City of Laval’s administrators and elected officials are facing a possible public backlash over a developer’s plans to convert a small island in the Rivière des Mille Îles – which was once the home of internationally-acclaimed singer Céline Dion – into a luxurious private resort.
Next to public park
While it’s not the first time a developer has set its sights on transforming the island, the task of turning Île Gagnon into an exclusive luxury destination is made all the more challenging by the fact it is located directly across a small inlet from the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, a public wildlife reserve where access is open to everyone.
According to initial plans by property developer François Duplantie, 700 condos, a hotel, a spa, a gym and two restaurants would be 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.
Opposition gathering
Although the City of Laval is currently conducting a poll among residents of the area to determine their support or opposition to the project, some members of the Laval city council opposition already are rejecting it outright.
The massive gates to the private Île Gagnon property where Céline Dion once lived, and where a developer wants to build an exclusive resort. Photo: Martin C. Barry
While acknowledging that the project will bring in massive investment and help improve services in Sainte-Rose, independent city councillor for Saint-Bruno David De Cotis launched an opposing petition last week, while also demanding that the city hold a full public consultation.
In an interview this week with The Laval News, Mayor Marc Demers said nothing has been decided at this point, although the developer has yet to formally apply to the city for permission to begin his project.
No commitment, says Demers
“We have insisted to the developer that he make a presentation on his own,” said Demers. “There is no obligation on his part, although we wanted the presentation to be up to certain standards. And at one point residents of Sainte-Rose were even invited to take part. But there is nothing more we can do until the developer comes to us asking for construction permits.”
Demers said the poll will help the city make a decision about the project. “Unfortunately, there is a lot of disinformation now taking place on social media,” he said. “The course we decide to take will be guided by our surveys and by public opinion. But at this point there is no commitment on our part towards this developer one way or the other.”
In a last minute development on Tuesday as we went to press, the City of Laval announced that the closing date for the survey underway in Ste-Rose has been postponed to July 31. The intial deadline had been July 12.
Quebec’s provincial police force conducted a series of raids in Laval and Rosemère on Tuesday while cracking down on internet-based fraud artists who succeeded recently in breaking into the e-mail boxes of several businesses where they gained acccess to banking information that allowed them to re-direct deposits into their own accounts.
According to the Sûreté du Québec, several hundred thousand dollars were stolen in this way by the suspects who are accused of breaking into e-mail between May 12 and June 4. After gaining access, they allegedly sent false e-mails to the business’s clients, telling them to send payments to new bank accounts.
“We encourage business owners to verify and strengthen as needed their computerized security systems and to double check with their customers, ideally while speaking with them, when it’s a question of changing a bank account or dealing with a transfer payment,” the SQ said in a statement.
The current issue of the Laval News volume 28-14 published July 8th, 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, July 8th, 2020 issue.
Quebec Finance Minister Éric Girard and Minister for Senior Citizens and Caregivers Minister Marguerite Blais marked the start of construction work Tuesday on a new long-term care residence (CHSLD) that will be located on a new street near Autoroute 440 in Val-des-Brises to be called Michel-Ange Boulevard.
Seen in this Sept. 2019 Laval News file photo, Quebec Finance Minister Éric Girard and Senior Citizens’ Minister Marguerite Blais have announced the start of work on a new Laval-area CHSLD. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
According to a statement issued by the CAQ government, the new residence will accommodate 242 people who are afflicted by loss of autonomy. The building is being conceived with the some of the latest ideas for long-term care residences, including an emphasis on privacy.
“With the start of work, this new CHSLD project in Laval has completed an important stage going towards its accomplishment,” said Girard. “I am very happy for the seniors in the community as well as their families. We are firmly committed towards assuring the well-being, security, quality of life and comfort of our seniors.”
“Our government is pursuing its major goal, which is the transformation of residential services for seniors,” said Blais. “The new CHSLD in Laval will be built in keeping with the principles for seniors’ residences. It will offer an environment with quality of life to residents and will ensure they have a physical environment that is secure and adapted to their needs.”
Completion of the project is expected to be in 2021, with the first residents moving in by February 2022. The units will be available on a rental basis, with annual fees expected to be moderate.
CAQ government provides support during COVID-19 pandemic recovery
Quebec Culture and Communications Minister Nathalie Roy announced nearly $3.7 million in provincial subsidies for 16 of Quebec’s science-based museums during an outdoor press conference held at the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles in Laval’s Sainte-Rose district on Tuesday.
Four Laval museums
Four of the institutions are located in Laval. They are the Centre d’interprétation de l’eau (in Sainte-Rose), the Musée Armand-Frappier on the eastern edge of Chomedey, the Cosmodôme in central Laval, and the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles.
While some of the museums (such as the Zoo Ecomuseum at the western tip of Montreal Island in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue) are located within the Montreal region, many others are located in more isolated but picturesque rural regions of the province, such as Gaspésie and the Eastern Townships, where tourism is currently in need of a big boost in the aftermath of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More support coming
The institutions in Laval are receiving a total of $950,000 from the package. According to the Culture and Communications Ministry, additional sums to be awarded to the museums across Quebec over the next four years will raise the amount of subsidies to $20 million over that period.
Quebec Culture and Communications Minister Nathalie Roy, left, speaks with Laval city councillor for Sainte-Rose Virginie Dufour, with CAQ MNA Christopher Skeete behind them, at the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille Îles on Tuesday.
Another $5.03 million will be available during the same period to the 16 institutions as part of the government’s overall post-COVID-19 economic recovery plan, the ministry added. The provincial government has also been providing subsidies to more than 100 museums of various themes and types in Quebec.
Improving knowledge
CAQ MNA for Sainte-Rose Christopher Skeete.
“It is with great pleasure that I greet the announcement of this financial assistance destined for museums and institutions with scientific and technological vocations,” said Sainte-Rose CAQ MNA Christopher Skeete, who is the CAQ government’s delegated representative for the province’s English-speaking community.
“Thanks to this support, institutions in our region, such as the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles and the Centre d’interprétation de l’eau, which are both located in the riding of Sainte-Rose, will be able to pursue their activities and their mission to the great enjoyment of all Quebecers,” added Skeete. “They will thus continue to shine a spotlight on Laval within Quebec’s scientific museum landscape.”
Help during pandemic
“Our government recognizes the essential need for scientific museums in terms of the role they play in education, research, understanding and conservation,” said the Culture and Communications Minister. “In the context of the current pandemic, I wanted to see that we acted quickly in order to financially support these museum institutions which were made vulnerable by the pandemic crisis.
“Their mission is in line with our goal to see that Quebec’s culture, of which were are proud, gets promoted and is made accessible,” she continued. “And so we will be pleased to support them over the course of the next five years.”
Health Canada has issued yet another advisory to Canadians regarding hand sanitizers that may pose health risks.
The warning comes following previous notices issued by the federal agency on other hand sanitizer products.
The latest advisory concerns hand sanitizers made with industrial-grade ethanol, which is not authorized for use in hand sanitizers, and may pose health risks.
This is the latest list of hand sanitizers on Health Canada’s watch.
Product
Recalling Company
NPN or DIN
Lot Number(s)
Expiry Date
Date Added
Biogel
Groupe Savon Olympics, Inc.
80098684
0D991 0D992 0D963 0D964 0E998 0E997 0E994
April 2022
July 3, 2020
eSafe
Groupe Enov, Inc.
Unlicensed (no NPN or DIN on label)
20-115 20-120 20-121
April 2021
July 3, 2020
20-125 20-126 20-181
May 2021
Hand Sanitizer Alco-San
Crown Chemical Products, Inc.
Unlicensed (no NPN or DIN on label)
51420-21 51520-20
Not printed on the label
July 3, 2020
Healthcare Plus Sanitizing Hand Gel
The Color Group, Division of Canadian Custom Packaging
Health Canada maintains a list of hand sanitizers that may pose health risks, so that Canadians can easily identify products they may have purchased and take appropriate action. Canadians are encouraged to check the list regularly for updates. For more information, including what Canadians should do, visit the online safety alert.
