Martin C. Barry

With the Coalition Avenir Québec leading in the polls and the incumbent Liberals following closely in second spot, the distant third-place Parti Québécois are still hoping – despite the odds – to reclaim seats they once held in Laval when Quebecers head to the ballot boxes on Oct. 1.

Rallying local Péquistes

PQ leader Jean-François Lisée and the party’s deputy-leader Véronique Hivon arrived in Laval aboard their  campaign bus on Aug. 24, a day after the campaign opened. They addressed more than 100 devoted PQ followers – many being from an older generation of Péquistes who knew the party in better days – at the Entraide community centre in Laval’s Pont-Viau district.

Hivon, who is the PQ MNA for Joliette, is no stranger to Laval, having served as a political attaché to former Laval-des-Rapides PQ MNA Serge Ménard during his time in office. Ménard was one of several former PQ MNAs and former Bloc Québécois MPs from Laval who turned up for the rally.

Hivon invokes pride

Also on hand were former Bloc MPs Robert Carrier and Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, as well as former PQ MNA for Sainte-Rose Suzanne Proulx. While the PQ leader dealt with some of the burning issues of the day in his address, Hivon appealed largely to the pride of her fellow Péquistes.

“That pride to fight for who we are, an extraordinary nation of Québécois who carry an incredible heritage, a history and a culture,” she said, while urging them to continue struggling to defend French – “the only official language of Quebec.”

The question of sovereignty was raised by Hivon as an ultimate goal for the PQ – although not necessarily something they would hope to tackle immediately were they to form a government on Oct. 1. “We have everything we need to become sovereign,” she said, while suggesting that a sovereign Quebec governed by the PQ would work proactively with English-speaking citizens as well as First Nations.

PQ leader Lisée speaks

In his speech, Lisée described the PQ as a political party that “doesn’t content itself only with what is. We want what will be better, and it is up to us to make it happen. We are the creators of a better Quebec and no one will stop us from creating a better Quebec.”

After pledging to do a better job of improving health and social services than either the Liberals or the CAQ, he said the PQ’s second major goal would be the defence of the French language. “Who will defend the French language in Laval, Montreal and everywhere in Quebec?,” he said, before launching into an attack on Québec solidaire whose chief spokesperson, Manon Massé, had referred the day before to French and English as “official languages” in Quebec.

Attacks QS’s Manon Massé

“I think this reflects the fact that at Québec solidaire, Quebec nationalism – the defence of the historic language of the nation – isn’t integrated. It isn’t in their DNA. It’s not their strongest point,” he said, while describing the Liberal Party as being in denial of the facts.

“They deny that the French language is losing ground in the Montreal region,” said Lisée, noting that 60 per cent of employment ads in Montreal now list English as a mandatory qualification, while others refer to French as merely being an asset. “What this means is that if you don’t speak English, for six jobs out of 10 you can’t get the job. It’s the opposite of what Bill 101 set out to do.”

Martin C. Barry

If personality is a factor that ends up influencing the outcome of the Oct. 1 provincial election, the Coalition Avenir Québec’s François Legault may well be ahead of the game in this regard.

While incumbent Liberal Premier Philippe Couillard is known for his surgical coolness – after all, he is a neurologist – PQ leader Jean-François Lisée doesn’t seem to fare much better, coming from an intellectual background and being a political analyst.

Marché 440 meet and greet

On a campaign stop in Laval at the Marché 440 outdoor garden market last Sunday afternoon, Legault, on the other hand, seemed much more in his natural element.

Meeting ordinary people face to face, the CAQ leader seemed completely at ease as he interacted with virtually everyone he met, while exchanging anecdotes and bits of humor with voters from the Laval region.

During a scrum with journalists afterwards, Legault outlined some of the specific pledges the CAQ is making for the Laval area. “We made a commitment to extend the REM, you know, with Montreal, Laval and along the 440 – that is to have REM stations along the 440 east to west,” he said.

Election pledges for Laval

“I think this is something that we need in Laval. You only have to be living in Laval to see what happens on the 15 in the morning, late afternoon and in the evening to know that there is a big, big, big problem with mobility in Laval.” Straying off that point, Legault then alluded to the CAQ’s pledge to rearrange the province’s school tax system, as well as other issues.

“As is the case elsewhere in the province, we are paying too much school tax, there aren’t enough well-paying jobs, there’s a shortage of pre-kindergartens for four-year-olds,” he said. “We’re going to be offering the best services to our senior citizens. So there are various things we are doing in Laval. Yes, we can do better in Laval than what’s been done over the past 15 years.”

Also promises A-19 extension

Legault was also asked what the CAQ, if elected, will do to complete the long-delayed extension of Autoroute 19 northward from Laval to the North Shore region. “What I am committing myself to do is to work very narrowly with the mayors of the North Shore,” he replied.

“I am an MNA from the North Shore,” said Legault, who is the representative for the riding of Rousseau in the Lanaudière region. “I think I know them well. I worked a long time in the Laurentians when I was president of Air Transat. I have a good knowledge, I think, of the needs of the North Shore, and I will work with them very, very closely. I have a good idea of what they want.”

‘Time to act,’ says CAQ leader

Legault pointed out that successive governments led by the Liberals and the PQ have made promises about completing the A-19 as many as times – without ever fulfilling them. “It’s about time that we take this seriously and take action,” he said.

“I think that one of the big demands being heard concerns the 19. It’s going to be done with us. And it’s going to be done within the parameters they want – with reserved lanes, based on the demands of the mayors from the North Shore. It will be done within a reasonable period of time.”

Martin C. Barry

A two-man team of filmmakers, one of whom lives in Laval, has its sights set on making a full-length feature movie after a 15-minute dramatic short they recently completed scored some major awards at a Montreal film festival this past July.

David Magini and Joseph Rossi have worked on relatively small-scale film projects since 2006. They attended film school together around the year 2000. Both learned filmmaking at the Trebas Institute in Montreal.

Won two awards

Their latest film, The Engagement, which was completed last November, won an audience appreciation award, as well as a best actress award, at the Let’s Make a Movie Film Festival at the Cinéma du Parc in Montreal.

“We went to film school together,” Rossi said in an interview with the Laval News. One day, they discovered they shared similar interests and decided to work on their first film short. Within a few years, they were making more films collaboratively. That was around 15 years ago. The degree of trust between the two has now developed to the point where they share co-direction credit on their productions.

Rising production values

The Engagement is a major leap forward for the two, as it is their first film involving professional actors who are members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA). The film’s stars include Katharine King, Ellen David, Michaela Di Cesare, Tony Calabretta, Stephanie Coco-Palermo and Johnny Sa.

For her work in the film, Michaela Di Cesare won the film festival’s Best Actress award. Some of Di Cesare’s recent dramatic work included the world premiere run in April and May at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre of a “dramady” play she wrote called ‘Successions.’ The Engagement also received the most positive votes in a film festival audience poll.

Larger project possible

The Engagement was shot in several locations, including a reception hall on Lacordaire Blvd. in east end Montreal. Rossi and Magini are currently mulling the possibility of expanding the film into a full-length feature (70 minutes or longer).

The storyline for The Engagement goes like this: A woman named Caterina (the central character) must make a life changing choice on the day of her engagement to be married. On the day she becomes engaged, circumstances take a turn so that she has to choose what course to take in her professional life. As well, she has to decide whether to remain engaged to the man she has chosen, or return to a previous relationship with a lesbian girlfriend.

Many rejections, fewer wins

As Rossi and Magini tell it, The Engagement was entered in competition at around 100 film festivals since its completion. Eventually, it ended up being nominated and winning at the Let’s Make a Movie Film Festival. “I think the ratio of wins to rejections is like 1:10,” Magini said. From the technical angle, they do all their shooting with Canon single lens reflex digital cams, with cinema-quality lenses to enhance their style.

While they’re circumspect about their costs for making a movie (as are many independent filmmakers – although their first film cost $50), both agree they continue making films because they love the medium. Although they hold down full-time jobs (one works as a manager at Dorval/Trudeau airport, while the other is employed at Costco), they still manage to churn out at least one short film a year.

(TLN)

On Sunday Aug. 19, there was a day of fun and games for people who live in Chomedey. The Fête de Quartier de Chomedey was back for a 10^th year.

As a community event that’s been growing in popularity annually, this year’s Fête attracted hundreds of people to Saint-Martin Park in Chomedey where there was fun and celebration from 11 a.m. to late afternoon.

There was corn on the cob, a circus show, animation, sports, games, face painting, crafts and much more. In keeping with custom, part of the Fête de Quartier was devoted to the promotion of healthy living habits.

History of the Fête

The Fête de Quartier de Chomedey was first launched after a group of Chomedey residents attended a citizens’ forum held by the City of Laval in 2008. One of their conclusions was that some kind of event should be held annually to bring everyone in the district together.

The first Fête, held in 2009, was attended by around 400 people and the number has grown exponentially each year since then. Besides Guy Ouellette, the Fête de Quartier de Chomedey’s other major sponsors are Maxi & Cie St-Martin, the Caisse Desjardins des Chomedey, Laval-les Îles NDP MP François Pilon, Laval NDP MP José Nunez-Melo and the Laval News.

(TLN)

Incumbent Quebec Liberal MNA for Fabre Monique Sauvé launched her re-election campaign on Saturday Aug. 25 surrounded by 75 supporters.

Following a day during which she attended several public functions and when campaign volunteers made their way from door to door through the streets in the riding, Sauvé said she was very proud of the work they accomplished.

“I am proud to be surrounded by such a large number of volunteers,” she said. “They are exactly what we needed and I feel more than motivated to lead this important campaign with them. I am very grateful for their support and such large numbers.”

Nothing for granted

Sauvé, who has made her mark over the past four years, said she was taking nothing for granted, despite her accomplishments. “I took part in more than 400 local activities since November 2015,” she said. “I put into place with Partage humanitaire the international school and the la Luciole residence, which is a new intergenerational project recognized in the most recent Leitão budget.

“I remitted several thousand dollars in subsidies to community organizations to support them in their projects,” she continued. “This is only a sample of my actions over the past four years. I feel like doing even more for the citizens of Fabre in the coming years.”

New commitments coming

According to a statement issued by Monique Sauvé’s riding office, she will be announcing new commitments to voters in the coming weeks. The commitments will be the result of consultations with constituents that she held this past spring and summer.

“I can put a face and name to each of my commitments towards the citizens and it’s very rewarding,” said Sauvé, who pledged to be more present than ever on her riding’s territory in order to meet the maximum number of citizens.

Martin C. Barry

A little more than a year after a restaurant operator on a stretch of Daniel Johnson Blvd. in downtown Laval complained that a lengthy program of road improvements by the city was literally driving away business, more business owners are coming forth to say they’ve had about enough of the situation.

A never-ending wait

As reported by the Laval News in its June 28, 2017 issue, Christine Stergiou, who operates the Eggsquis breakfast restaurant on Daniel Johnson Blvd, had already been waiting at least two years for the City of Laval to complete road work along a stretch between Saint Martin and Souvenir boulevards.

Last week, several other Daniel Johnson Blvd. business owners came forth with similar complaints, although now with a more serious twist: a 30 per cent drop in customer traffic that some blame on the city’s slowness – as well as its seeming disregard for the well-being of Laval’s small and medium-size businesses.

“We didn’t get a warning – we didn’t receive any indication of how long this would last,” said Peter Chiotis, who operates the Casa Grecque restaurant at the corner of Daniel Johnson and St. Martin Blvd.

Employees affected

“If at least they had given us an estimation of what’s happening. That way we could arrange with our staff. Because I’m bringing in, you know, employees to do their job, and unfortunately we don’t have many clients coming in and I have to cut their hours. This is all just a mess.”

Chiotis was one of several merchants in the area interviewed by the Laval News who maintained they’ve seen similar drops in customer traffic since the program of street improvements was first started by the city. The street, which used to consist of a single lane, has been enlarged and now has two separate lanes for north and southbound traffic.

But with that came the necessity of installing a lot of new infrastructure, such a street lighting and underground conducts, accounting to a large extent for the delays.

Business down a third

“I’m losing 50 to 100 customers a day,” Chiotis said, noting that the loss represents up to a third of Casa Grecque’s usual business. He said the situation has been deteriorating since around 2013 when the city first undertook the project to widen Daniel Johnson Blvd.

While the city has previously claimed that Hydro Quebec was largely to blame for the delays because the electric utility was slow installing infrastructure on Daniel Johnson Blvd., Chiotis isn’t buying that excuse. Between the city and Hydro, he said, their actions have taken a serious toll on his business.

Apart from the fact that time-pressed customers probably feel much less inclined to come by Casa Grecque because of the huge volumes of traffic blocking the restaurant parking lot’s entrance, he pointed out that Casa Grecque’s outside terrace, which was a major customer draw at one time, has become much less usable because of the dust churned up by work trucks and overall congestion.

A dirty situation

“The dirt that comes on our terrace,” he exlaimed. “And nobody’s going to come only to listen to some workers drill, or having a cloud of dirt come in your face. That’s also costing me money to clean this all up every single time.”

While Chiotis admits that his business is likely to benefit from the improvements (including some nearby high-rise residential condo development), there are times when he wonders if his restaurant will survive all the turmoil simply because of the time it’s taking.

At the Place 3000 mall where Casa Grecque is located, other businesses contacted last week by the Laval News also reported significant drops in client traffic since the Daniel Johnson Blvd. road work started.

No time for traffic woes

Hassan Chehouri, manager of the Boustan Lebanese fast food restaurant at the mall, said they’ve seen a decline in clients. “People are having a hard time coming in to the parking – especially at lunch time,” he said. “When they’ve got a half-hour to eat, they’re not going to waste it sitting in traffic.”

Salim Bohsali, owner of a pastry shop and catering business at Place 3000, has only been open for the past four months. But he said he found it difficult doing business because of the street work, as well as a recent jogging marathon which partly closed the street and disrupted access to the mall’s parking area. “You know when you lose $10,000 in a weekend, it’s not easy to make it back again,” said Bohsali.