Seen here on Monday April 6, the Berge aux Quatre-Vents in Laval-Ouest is seeing a small amount of flooding this year.
Seen here on Monday April 6, the Berge aux Quatre-Vents in Laval-Ouest is seeing a small amount of flooding this year.
Seen here on Monday April 6, the Berge aux Quatre-Vents in Laval-Ouest is seeing a small amount of flooding this year.
Seen here on Monday April 6, the Berge aux Quatre-Vents in Laval-Ouest is seeing a small amount of flooding this year.
UPDATED: Monday April 6, 2020. (Pictures by anonymous reader)
With their plates already full while monitoring for outbreaks of COVID-19, Laval city officials have another challenge to deal with: spring flooding in Laval-Ouest and other areas of the region.
In Laval-Ouest, residents living near the edge of the Rivière des Mille Îles have been pressuring the city to install an inflatable water barrier as a preventive measure to stop flooding should there be a recurrence of it this year.
On Saturday April 4, rising waters from the river were beginning to edge over the low-lying Berge aux Quatre-Vents park on Riviera St., although the situation could hardly be considered alarming compared to recent past years.
Federal and provincial public safety and environmental officials don’t see the flooding situation as getting out of hand this year. In the meantime, the City of Laval is making sandbags available to residents who feel they might need them.
A man believed to be in his 30s disappeared beneath the waters of the Rivière des Prairies just off Île Paton in Chomedey during the late afternoon of Friday April 3 after he waded in while trying to pull his dog from the partly frozen river.
According to the Laval Police, the dog fell in and the man then entered the water to try and rescue it. Although no one saw the man re-emerge from the river, the dog made it back to shore.
The Laval Fire Department, which is well-equipped to deal with accidents on the rivers surrounding Laval, was on the scene conducting a search Friday evening, although there was no word by Saturday morning that they had found anything.
Quality Suites is reporting on the web that its Laval hotel just off Autoroute 15 is “closed temporarily” while an overflow of mental health and palliative patients from the Cité de la Santé hospital are housed there after being displaced because of the COVID-19 situation.
The move was initiated by officials at the CISSS de Laval who had an overflow of 133 patients resulting from an increasing number of COVID-19 patients.
One floor at the Quality Suites has been designated exclusively for palliative patients, while another is for those with mental illness.
The facility is currently closed to the public, with the exception of CISSS workers, patients and their families.
Laval-Les Îles MP Fayçal El-Khoury is seen here outside the CHSLD Sainte-Dorothée with some of the protective facial masks and other supplies that were donated.
Laval-Les Îles Liberal MP Fayçal El-Khoury, whose wife Dr. Georgette Elias has a dental practice in Montreal, was able to deliver some protective facial masks, vinyl gloves and other supplies to the CHSLD Sainte-Dorothée on April 2.
He and his wife both agreed the crucial items were much more needed at the long-term care facility where staff and residents are coping with the COVID-19 outbreak.
This map issued by the CISSS de Laval shows the locations of COVID-19 infections up to April 3.
The Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de Laval announced on April 3 that there had been a total of seven deaths in the Laval region from COVID-19 up to that date.
According to the CISSS, up to April 3 there were 476 confirmed cases, 31 hospitalizations, 5 cases in intensive care and 58 cases confirmed among CISSS de Laval employees.
The largest number of COVID-19 infections was at Cité de la Santé hospital (44) and at CHSLD Sainte-Dorothée (26).
Seen here on March 31, the Récréathèque on Curé-Labelle Blvd. in Chomedey is finally being demolished to make way for a new residential complex.
COVID-19 crisis or not, demolition of the old and abandoned Récréathèque in Laval’s Chomedey district is now proceeding as announced last year, to make way for an eight-storey, 347-unit residential building. Many generations of people from Laval, as well those who’ve travelled along Curé Labelle Blvd. while heading north on Route 117, have lasting memories of the Récréathèque. The new building is a project by Montreal property developer Shafiraman Weiss’s Vertex Construction.
The current issue of the Laval News volume 28-06 published March 18th, 2020, (Laval’s English Newspaper) covers local events such as politics, sports and human-interest stories. It features editorials and other columns. Click on the image to read the paper.
Front page of Laval News, Vol. 28-06 March 18, 2020
From the left, Laval executive-committee vice-president Stéphane Boyer, GA International founder and CEO George Ambartsoumian and Marc-Aurèle-Fortin Liberal MP Yves Robillard announced a major subsidy recently to the company. Photo: Martin C. Barry
A Laval-based life-sciences business specialized in the production of temperature- and solvent-resistant labels for the medical and scientific sectors will see better quality productivity following the announcement of a $162,000 repayable subsidy from the federal government. Located on Jacques-Bureau Ave. in Laval’s industrial park, GA International provides products and services to pharmaceutical companies, biomedical and biotechnological laboratories, as well as universities, hospitals and businesses involved in the petroleum, gas, electric, optic and even jewelry industries.
Meeting special needs
GA International’s clients often have specific and unusual needs. For example, a laboratory may require labels to identify cryogenic storage flasks subject to temperatures as low as 196°C, or for sterilization in an environment heated to 121°C. The business, which was founded and continues to be operated by George Ambartsoumian, a longtime Chomedey resident, is making major investments in research and development. With its growing scientific expertise, it currently offers over 6,000 products, developed for 20,000 clients and distributed in more than 100 countries.
Automation necessary
To meet the growing international demand and to pursue an expansion, GA International recently made significant investments to automate its processes. The company is continuing in this direction with the installation of an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system to improve, among other things, inventory management in its warehouses overseas. In addition to helping to maximize the business’s efficiency, the federal government’s assistance will lead to the creation of 36 jobs during the project, on top of the 60 that already exist. The assistance was announced during a visit to GA International’s facilities on March 5 by Marc-Aurèle-Fortin MP Yves Robillard on behalf of Minister of Economic Development Mélanie Joly.
A bright future for GA
“The future for GA International is bright,” said Ambartsoumian. “We have breathtaking projects and daring ideas to develop and implement for years to come. We have an amazing team of motivated employees looking forward to advance our objectives. “We have number of exciting projects happening now,” he added, “such as opening a location in India, vertical integration into primary materials’ manufacturing, doubling our manufacturing and office facilities, acquiring major manufacturing equipment, developing new and innovative products and more. The new ERP system financed by CED is an indispensable tool for our company and will be essential in making those projects happen.”
Laval is also assisting
Laval executive-committee vice-president Stéphane Boyer, who was also present for the announcement, said the city’s economic development department has been in touch with GA International to determine whether additional subsidies can be obtained for the company to encourage its growth. “When a commercial or industrial enterprise expands its offices or facilities, we have tax credits to encourage them to grow and to expand,” said Boyer. “And GA International is a good example. I heard that the company has tripled its staff in just a few years and congratulate you on this.
Exporting know-how globally
“We often hear about companies when things aren’t going well,” he continued. “But also there are companies that encounter problems when they are growing because they face management challenges. I am happy to see that you have a strong team here and a very youthful work force.” “The Government of Canada has made it a priority to invest in promising industrial sectors for greater Montreal and in innovative, thriving SMEs,” said Robillard. “GA International is an example of a high‑performance business bringing Canadian know-how to the world. It is a source of pride for me to be able to meet with this team that is contributing to the activities of a good many important businesses in our community.”
