Martin C. Barry

A divided Laval city council spent much of their monthly public meeting on Aug. 7 pondering the future of one of Laval’s remaining forest spaces – the Bois du Trait-Carré – as well as an opposition proposal to change the city’s charter and decentralize power from the executive-committee and mayor’s office to the councillors themselves.

Mayor Marc Demers opened the meeting with a statement to the effect he would be recommending the creation of a new committee to examine issues surrounding the Bois du Trait-Carré, which is a wooded space in eastern Chomedey around Saint-Martin, Laval and de l’Avenir boulevards.

Saving Bois du Trait-Carré

The area is on the verge of being developed. Fabre city councillor Claude Larochelle, who represents the official opposition Parti Laval, tabled a motion calling for the city to conserve the entire site of the Bois du Trait-Carré by preventing commercial development there and taking measures to have a school surrounded by the woods built there.

Although voting on the council is currently dominated by 11 councillors who do not regard themselves as allied with the mayor and his Mouvement Lavallois municipal party, the resolution remained in limbo after a vote in view of the fact the mayor still holds a right of veto over any resolution. The item was deferred for additional study until it is retabled at a future council meeting.

Charter changes sought

The opposition wants to restore Laval city council’s powers as they were decades ago. As such, Larochelle, party leader Michel Trottier and others have sent a request to the Quebec Ministry of Municipal Affairs to modify the city’s charter. The purpose of the resolution was to confirm that the city is also agreeing to seek the changes.

“The current charter takes from elected officials fundamental powers while we have duty to represent,” Larochelle said in a statement on the issue. “The municipal council is a democratic body that has been neglected for too long in Laval, and today we must take back our rights like other municipalities in Quebec.”

Aquatic complex questions

During the public question period, the mayor was asked to comment on the slow progress being made towards building an aquatic complex for the city. “Within a few weeks we should be able to announce a more precise orientation,” he responded, while adding that some of the information can’t be released for now as it is regarded as sensitive to closing a deal to build the aquatic complex.

Also during question period, Gaétane Girard of Chomedey complained about the proliferation of reserved public transit lanes on Curé Labelle Blvd. near Autoroute 15, which she claimed are not helping but rather are contributing to traffic problems. “I ask that the reserved lane on Curé Labelle be abolished in its entirety,” she said.

New city administrators

Also during the meeting, the city announced the appointment of two new assistant-directors to the administration at city hall. Firstly, Nathalie Marchand is joining the administration as assistant-director for operations and development of business solutions in the department of innovation and technologies. Secondly, the city announced the promotion of Francis Thibeault to the post of assistant-director for planning and development for real estate investments in the department of economic development.

And the city also announced that it has concluded a new agreement for the next three years with Tourisme Laval, the at-arm’s-length municipal agency responsible for promoting Laval as a tourist destination. The city’s contribution to Tourisme Laval in 2018 will be $445,800. According to the city, tourism accounts for 11 per cent of employment in Laval.

Martin C. Barry

After coming to Laval on Aug. 2 to explain the Quebec Liberal government’s controversial health and social service reforms of the past four years, Health Minister Gaétan Barrette found himself before an audience consisting mostly of labour union activists critical of the government’s management.

Large union presence

The gathering, organized by the Quebec Liberal Party’s political issues commission for the Laval region, took place in the auditorium of Laval Junior Academy on Daniel Johnson Blvd.

While attendance at the meeting was sparse, most of the questions following Barrette’s presentation were overwhelmingly from the unionists who made up at least two-thirds of the audience. They managed to maintain an acceptable level of decorum most of the time, despite occasional outbursts of sarcasm and laughter.

Arriving late, Barrette was greeted outside by very noisy union members from the Canadian Union of Public Employees as well as the Centrale des syndicats du Québec.

Barrette’s approach

As Barrette pointed out, he had been making the rounds in various areas of Quebec since June 15 making his presentation to audiences, which were considerably larger than the one that turned out in Laval.

“I do politics the way it should be: transparently, precisely, with a clear message and you can decide eventually,” he said.

Shortly after winning the last provincial election in 2014, the Liberals initiated an austerity program that saw some of the deepest cuts and policy changes in recent history made within various government departments – including the ministry of health.

Although the Liberals brought the austerity period to a close last year, there’s not much doubt Barrette held the toughest portfolio, tightly managing Quebec’s now $38.6 billion annual health and social services budget, representing 52 per cent of most provincial government spending.

Denies lowering budgets

“It’s been four years you’ve been hearing about austerity,” said Barrette, insisting that “austerity is when year after year we make the budget smaller.” All the same, he maintained that over a 15-year time span when the Liberals were in power, “there’s not once when we lowered the budget.”

However, he acknowledged, “We controlled the growth of expenses. That’s true.” Barrette also maintained that the Liberals consistently invested in the public health care sector, with a steady increase in services over 15 years.

A particularly ominous point Barrette wished to make was that if Quebec’s health care budget continues growing at its current rate, in 10 years, “if we don’t control expenses in health, or if we don’t reflect on the choices we have to make, the health budget will reach 65 per cent of the global budget,” he said.

Ballooning health budget

He pointed out that in 1972, a few years after the Quebec Health Insurance Plan’s creation by the government, public health and social services accounted for just 27 per cent of the overall provincial budget. “I say this in order to have you realize that if decisions are not made, we are going to have problems.”

By the time of the question period, Marc Ranger, Quebec director of the CUPE, was first to fire shots at Barrette. A veteran worker from the health and social services sector, Ranger accused the health minister of portraying himself as the “savior” of Quebec’s system of health care.

“Are you aware as minister of health, beyond those who defend the status quo, that there is a general demobilization never seen before in the health sector, that there are senior managers who quit and take retirement long before it’s time because they feel they no longer have a say,” said Ranger, who was loudly cheered by his colleagues.

No ‘demobilization,’ he said

Responding, Barrette said, “I myself don’t see that everywhere in Quebec there is a demobilization. I do see that there are difficulties. But I also see a bunch of regions where things are going well, where the shift is being made and is taking place in a spirit of collaboration.”

When Ranger asked again whether the health minister was “aware that a historic demobilization of human resources in the network,” Barrette replied, “I am perfectly aware that the reform I am undertaking is causing reactions. And I am perfectly aware of the fact that the shift is now taking place and it is not black as you are portraying it.”

Later during question period, Barrette and the meeting’s organizers were derided because five out of six of Laval’s Liberal MNAs failed to attend. Fabre MNA Monique Sauvé was the only local Liberal present. Asked for his views on Public Private Projects (PPP), Barrette said there wouldn’t be any as long as he was health minister. “A hospital is not a bridge,” he said.

How time flies. Looking back a decade, it’s hard to resist using a cliché when saying that it seems like only yesterday Justin Trudeau was setting his sights on becoming an MP in Canada’s Parliament.

And yet it has indeed been a decade since our current Prime Minister walked into the public library in Montreal’s Park Extension district to sit down with Newsfirst Multimedia for what would be his first interview with us, as he prepared to seek the Liberal nomination to run in Papineau in the 2008 federal election.

In a wide-ranging interview last week in conjunction with the upcoming 10^th anniversary of his first being elected, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described his beginnings in federal politics as “a steep learning curve,” although “that was the whole point,” he said.

A fateful decision

According to a by-now well-known account, Justin Trudeau had been contemplating entering federal politics for some time. As early as 2007, rumours circulated that he was seeking the Liberal nomination in the riding of Outremont, although the riding had already been staked out for Stéphane Dion.

As the story goes, this motivated Trudeau to choose the neighbouring riding of Papineau, where he easily won the Liberal nomination on April 29, 2007.

“Ten years ago, picking a place that I knew would teach me not just what mattered for local issues but for the country was at the heart of what I was trying to do,” he said last week, looking back. “I had a lot to learn and I knew that I would work very, very hard and learn.”

‘Make no small dreams…’

Nearly five years ago, when Justin Trudeau announced his intentions to run for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, he did so at a rally held in Park Extension. In a speech, quoting the German humanist philosopher Johann Goethe, Trudeau confidently declared: “Make no small dreams – they have not the power to move the soul.”

Recalling the moment, he said: “That speaks larger than just a run for politics. It’s the kind of world we want to build – the kind of communities we want to have. When you’re not thinking big about the future, if you’re not even dreaming big, you’ll never achieve anything. So this idea of taking this community and achieving great things has been at the centre of everything I’ve done.”

His father’s influence

“You know, people often talk about my father and the influence he had. And, yes, I learned a little how to be a prime minister from him. But it wasn’t he who taught me how to be the MP for a riding, to understand and listen to people.

“My father got into politics with ideas which really were given shape by his writings in Cité Libre, the Quiet Revolution. He had goals with regards to bilingualism, with regards to the constitution which were very clear to him. Of course, I have ideas and values. But a lot of who I am as a politician and as prime minister was taught on the terrain by the people I hoped to represent.”

In the course of the interview, Trudeau also answered questions on a number of current issues facing the country, including Canada’s processing of immigrants and refugees, as well as the country’s gun control policies in the aftermath of mass shooting incidents in Toronto in July and in Fredericton NB in August.

Q and A’s with the PM

While Canada has long had a generally open policy towards immigrants and refugees, that image has found itself challenged lately by the newly-elected Conservative government of Ontario, which has complained to Ottawa about costs associated with accepting refugees crossing over the U.S. border, and Quebec poised to possibly elect a similarly-minded CAQ government. We asked Prime Minister Trudeau if Ottawa is anticipating any significant changes in its immigration and refugee strategies.

“First of all, one of the big changes is that we invested significantly more in streamlining, in improving, in giving more resources to our immigration and refugee system so that we can deal with backlogs and family reunifications,” responded Trudeau. “We have the capacity to process more people, to being families together, to allow them to integrate better and allow them to be successful quicker in Canada and in their communities.

Fine-tuning the refugee system

“That is already a big step forward – recognizing that regular arrivals are putting extra pressure on the system, but pressure that we are able to respond to. We are still processing everyone who crosses the border. They will go through the immigration and refugee system in its integrality. And we recognize that there are extra costs for Ontario and for Quebec and that’s why we are sending extra money to Quebec and to Ontario and to other provinces who need help on housing the refugees.”

Given the recent shooting incidents in two of Canada’s largest cities, and the looming possibility that U.S.-style gun carnage is spilling over into this country, we asked the prime minister whether his government is contemplating any changes to Canada’s gun legislation with regards to licensing and firearms control.

Trudeau on gun control

“We brought in fairly strong common sense gun legislation in the spring that already does a significant job in making sure there are more controls and making it safer for our communities,” he replied. “But there are a lot of questions about can we do more. And we’re very much looking, talking with Canadians, talking with people around the world about different ways of moving forward to keep Canadians even safer.”

Finally, with a federal election looming in late 2019, we asked the Prime Minister whether (depending on the outcome of the election) he would be willing to serve as leader of the Official Opposition? “I’m not going to answer that,” he said with a grin. “I’m focused on winning the election. That’s not a question I’m going to entertain.”

Martin C. Barry

The Sir Wilfrid Laurier Foundation’s 2017 Lobster Fest, which took place at the Château Royal in Laval on June 14, raised $32,268 for educational equipment and materials for students at SWLSB learning centres and schools in the coming year.

Several hundred supporters of the foundation look forward each year to the Lobster Fest, which provides an opportunity to feast on lobster while supporting the cause of public education. For many, the Lobster Fest also brings the school year to a close on a festive note as one of the foundation’s two main annual fundraisers.

Many supporters and guests

Among the guests at this year’s Lobster Fest were Laval deputy-mayor and city councillor for St-Bruno David De Cotis, l’orée des bois city councillor Yannick Langlois (representing Mayor Marc Demers), Commission scolaire des samares president Michel Forget, and SWLSB interim director-general Fréderic Greschner.

“The Sir Wilfrid Foundation is an important partner of the school board and we are proud to contribute in the achievement of its mission,” SWLF president Christian Fréchette said in the opening address. “Over the past 14 years, the foundation has contributed to a wide variety of projects that benefit students directly.

$1 million target close

“Since its creation, close to $800,000 has been given to the schools and centres of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board. We are getting very close to our goal of $1 million. We have given $785,000 to the schools and centres.”

For 2018-2019, according to Fréchette, the foundation’s goal is to make possible the acquisition of more multi-sensory classroom equipment, which he said is highly in demand in all schools and will be used by students of all ages.

“The education of our youth and school perseverance are at the heart of the foundation’s actions and decisions,” he said. “It is our responsibility to invest in our young people and support them in their education so that they can become accomplished citizens.

Funding tools and equipment

At the same time, he announced that in 2019 the foundation will again fund tools and sensory equipment for all the school board’s schools and centres.

“This equipment was a success in 2018, but the need is so great that we will give more next year,” he said. “Of course, the foundation will continue to award citizenship scholarships to graduating students and will carry on holding the Laurier Gala in May of each year.”

The president of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, Jennifer Maccarone, took the opportunity to thank the members of the foundation’s board of directors for their efforts and the time they devote to the school board’s students.

SWLSB ranked one of the best

“You are valuable partners and we are grateful for the difference you make in the school board,” she said. Maccarone also informed the guests that the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board was ranked among the best in the province.

The many guests at this year’s Lobster Fest had a wonderful evening which was lively and energetic, and they were able to enjoy the all-you-can-eat lobsters. Since its creation in 2014, the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Foundation has annually awarded hundreds of citizenship grants to graduates of the youth and adult sectors. Since 2014, these amounts have been distributed as follows:

The foundation’s mid-winter fundraising gala will be held on January 24, 2019. Details will be released in the fall. Created in 2004, the Foundation’s mission is to promote educational, cultural, recreational, technological and sports programs for the SWLSB’s students.  For more information, visit the website of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Foundation at www.fondationlaurier.com.

Martin C. Barry

The searing heat wave that descended on the Montreal region during Canada Day weekend wasn’t enough to keep thousands of people with Greek roots from all over Quebec from returning to their cultural origins when the Laval Greek Orthodox community held its Hellenic Summer Festival at Holy Cross Church in Chomedey.

The Laval Hellenic Summer Festival is one of the biggest Greek cultural events that takes place in Quebec each year. People arrive from many areas of eastern Canada, eager to meet and greet old friends and members of their extended families. In Laval there are an estimated 40,000 Greek residents.

Dignitaries cut the cake

Proceeds from each year’s festival support local Greek educational needs, as well as charitable causes in the Greek community. A highlight each year on July 1 is the Canada Day celebration with a large Canadian flag cake. This year, there were also stirring performances of traditional Greek dancing, as well as a demonstration of Chinese kung fu by students of a Laval martial arts school.

Among the many dignitaries who turned up were Laval city councillor Yannick Langlois (representing Mayor Marc Demers), Deputy Mayor David De Cotis, Laval-area Liberal MPs Fayçal El-Khoury and Eva Nassif, Quebec Liberal MNAs from Laval Guy Ouellette and Monique Sauvé, and Laval city councillors Aglaia Revelakis, Vasilios Karidogiannis, Aline Dib, Paolo Galati and Aram Elagoz.

A little rain on the party

“Last night we had rain, but it didn’t stop the party,” noted Dennis Marinos, Laval regional president of the Hellenic Community of Greater Montreal (HCGM) who was overseeing the multi-day event. “People continued dancing. The singer simply went under the tent to continue. Of course, we had to stop a little early because of thunder storms. But everything went well other than that.”

Chomedey MNA Guy Ouellette said that attending the Laval Greek Festival was a fitting way for him to cap Canada Day. “I couldn’t ask for a better way to conclude Canada Day than being with the Greek community this evening,” he said.

A proud Canadian

“Today is a day when we are proud to be Canadian, when we should announce our national pride to the entire world,” said El-Khoury. “I want the entire world to hear that we are Canadian and leading the world in humanitarian relief. I am proud to be here to participate in the Greek Festival as I do every year.”

“This is a very hot Canada Day,” said Nassif, noting that earlier in the day she attended a citizenship swearing-in ceremony at Laval’s Centre de la Nature, where 25 new Canadian citizens took an oath to become full-fledged citizens of the country.

Celebration of traditions

“More than 40,000 Greek people now live in Laval, and I am happy to be here every year with the Greek community,” said De Cotis. “When they are celebrating the Greek festival, they are celebrating their traditions, their heritage and their culture. It’s important that these traditions remain here in the City of Laval for the next generation.”

“Wherever they live, Canada is very important to everybody, to people who have immigrated to Canada and Laval,” said Revelakis. “It’s nice to see that people who come here to make a life for themselves believe in this country.” For his part, Karidogiannis said that Canada Day in Laval brings out the best that every community has to offer. “This is what Canada is about,” he said. “Bringing everybody together for a good and peaceful time with safety and prosperity.”