The current issue of the Laval News volume 26-13 published June 27th 2018, (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.
The current issue of the Laval News volume 26-12, (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.
Martin C. Barry
Although no Gold medallions were awarded at the May edition of Laval’s semi-annual Mérite sportif sports awards, bronze and silver medals were given out to 132 of the city’s most deserving athletes and coaches.
It was with great pride that the athletes and coaches from Laval were honored on May 30 during the city’s 59th Mérite sportif lavallois awards evening.
Among those attending the event at théâtre Marcellin-Champagnat at Collège Laval were Vimont city councillor Michel Poissant, Sports Laval president Pierre Gervais, and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League referee Olivier Gouin.
Bronze and Silver medals
Among the sports honored during the evening were boxing, cheerleading, athletics, gymnastics, figure skating, short-track speed skating, curling, hockey and taekwondo. Of the 132 medallions given out, 29 were silver (for competing in Canadian sporting events) and 103 were bronze (competition in provincial events). There were no Golds this time for distinction in international events.
Delivering the evening’s keynote address, Olivier Gouin explained how he ended up becoming a referee in a sport and league known for being tough on rule enforcers. When he was in his mid-teens, he didn’t fancy the idea of working McDonald’s or Tim Horton’s.
A hockey referee’s life
“I said to myself that it couldn’t be too hard,” said Gouin, drawing some laughter from the young and sports-wise audience. After refereeing his first match at the former Samson Arena (now named after Martin Saint-Louis), he swore he’d never do it again after enduring abuse from over-enthusiastic parents in their 40s.
However, 12 years later he’s still pursuing refereeing as a career and has risen professionally to the point where he’s refereed two Canadian Hockey League Memorial Cups, two World Hockey Championships, and he’s also been involved in refereeing Olympic-level hockey.
Very competitive domain
“It’s a domain that’s extremely competitive,” said Gouin, comparing referees to the athletes themselves in terms of the amount of ambition and drive they both require. He also noted that there are 35,000 referees in Canada alone. Although relatively few of them end up refereeing at the highest levels of hockey, “I am someone who is extremely competitive,” he added.
But one thing he said he did want to make clear to the young athletes, which is the necessity to remain in school and pursue academic studies while participating in sports. “That’s the best decision I ever made,” said Gouin. “Today whenever I get on the ice, thanks to my Plan B I’m not refereeing just to survive. You wouldn’t believe how this takes the pressure off.”
A little more than 3,000 Laval households will be able to benefit from a municipal service for the emptying of their septic installations. This new by-law, passed in the municipal council on June 5, 2018, makes the City of Laval responsible for the emptying of all septic installations on its territory. The City ensures that all septic tanks located in Laval are flushed every two years, in accordance with the provincial regulation on the evacuation and wastewater treatment of isolated dwellings (Q-2, r.22). It also ensures that the sludge is disposed and properly treated by delivering it to the municipal wastewater treatment plant La Pinière.
This new service is now mandatory for residents of Laval whose residence is not connected to a municipal or private sewer system. For half of the residents, the first oil change will take place in 2018 and all subsequent even years. For the other half, the first oil change will take place in 2019 and all subsequent odd years.
Martin C. Barry
Following a non-confidence vote last month in which Mayor Marc Demers received just 57 per cent support from the Mouvement Lavallois membership, there was more bad news for the mayor less than a week into June when he was confronted by an unparalleled revolt by city councillors that reduced his party to minority status for the first time since coming to power with a majority in 2013.
The June 5 city council meeting was nothing less than a meltdown for Demers and the Mouvement Lavallois. In a manifestation of what seemingly was building for months, deputy mayor and executive-committee vice-president David De Cotis – who was the number two man on council, in addition to the fact he founded the Mouvement Lavallois – emerged as the leader of a dissident ML councillors’ faction.
The dissenting vote
Specifically, De Cotis and the other dissenters decided to support a motion brought forth by the opposition calling for a revision of some recent committee appointments. Although ML councillor Stéphane Boyer questioned the legality of the move, the matter was voted on, but was also referred to the city’s lawyers, who may end up deciding if it is legally binding.
The dissenters are De Cotis (who represents the district of Saint-Bruno), as well as councillors Vasilios Karidogiannis (L’Abord-à-Plouffe), Aline Dib (Saint-Martin), Paolo Galati (Saint-Vincent-de-Paul), Sandra El-Hélou (Souvenir-Labelle), Isabella Tassoni (Laval-des-Rapides), Michel Poissant (Vimont), Jocelyne Frédéric-Gauthier (Auteuil) and Daniel Hébert (Marigot).
Opposition now has majority
With the nine ML defectors, opposition councillors Aglaia Revelakis (Chomedey) of Action Laval and Claude Larochelle (Fabreville) of the Parti Laval bring the total number of opposing council members to 11, leaving the Mouvement Lavallois with a maximum of 10 seats on the 21-member council (not including the mayor who has a tie-breaking vote).
When the June 5 council meeting timed out at 11 pm with business on the agenda still not finished, the session was adjourned, on a motion by Councillor Paolo Galati, to 5 pm the following day. However, before then, on the morning of June 6, the mayor fired De Cotis from the executive-committee.
By late afternoon when media and a core following of Laval residents were gathering at city hall for the continuation of the council meeting, word was spreading that a “quorum” of councillors legally necessary to convene the meeting couldn’t be available, owing to the absence of the remaining ML council members.
Just before 5:30 pm on Wednesday, political staffers from the mayor’s office informed media waiting in the city council chamber that Demers would be holding an impromptu press conference in the executive-committee board room during which he would make a statement. Demers said the following:
Mayor Demers’ statement
“There was no quorum at this evening’s city council and the result of this is that the council session that was started yesterday is adjourned to June 7 at 8 am. This decision was not taken lightly. It grants us time to dialogue with all the municipal councillors of our caucus, which seems to me is fundamental at this stage.
“Important talks must take place and it seems to us that it would be wise to hold them when we feel rested, in a calm and serene climate,” Demers continued. “We wish to listen to them, to exchange views with them, with respect and openness. In the current situation, the worst thing to do is to act with rashness. I will take yesterday’s example as proof of this, when a resolution was adopted in non-conformity with the rules that were in force.
Mayor states his openness
“In conclusion, I reiterate my openness and my desire to discuss with the elected officials in order to clear the way towards solutions that would be satisfactory for all. The ultimate goal at all times remains to defend as best possible the interests of Laval’s population.” The mayor declined to say anything further.
Almost immediately following this, in the city council chamber, De Cotis, surrounded by the nine dissident councillors, issued the following statement: “This morning, Mayor Demers unilaterally decided to relieve me of my duties as vice-chair of the executive committee.
De Cotis makes statement
“I was motivated to enter politics 10 years ago and was elected in 2013 because I believed Lavallois deserved to be served by an open and democratic administration that strives to respond effectively to meet their needs. This objective continues to be the driving force behind my participation in public life. Although I am indeed disappointed with the mayor’s actions, I will continue to work in the best interest of my fellow citizens.”
Reacting to journalists who noted that the mayor maintains the June 5 vote wasn’t legal, De Cotis responded, “The mayor isn’t a lawyer. We researched the matter with our team and our lawyers, and yesterday’s vote was one hundred per cent legal.”
‘We have the majority now’
However, when asked whether he or other councillors had any overall objections to how the mayor does things, De Cotis replied, “We work very well with Mayor Demers. There can be differences of opinion, but we work very well with him. We want to continue to work with him. But he has to understand that we have the majority now and we should be working together for democracy and for Laval residents.”
While noting that he appreciated being deputy mayor and vice-president of the executive-committee, De Cotis refused nonetheless to say what specifically led to the rift between himself, the other dissident ML councillors and the mayor. “Soon we will reveal what he did that we didn’t like,” De Cotis said.
Surrounded by many party members and supporters, Jean Rousselle was nominated as the official candidate for the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) in the riding of Vimont for the upcoming 2018 general election.
“I am still very passionate about politics. I am proud and happy to be seeking a third term from my fellow Vimont and Auteuil residents, and I am determined to continue to represent them well at the National Assembly,” said Jean Rousselle, Liberal candidate for the 2018 general election.
Note that the Liberal government has balanced our public finances to give us the means to invest more in our priorities. Since May 2014, more than 224,800 jobs have been created in Quebec; the unemployment rate has been at an all-time low for several months; over 1,000,000 Quebecers now have access to a family doctor; taxes have decreased; and major investments have been made, particularly in health and education.
Martin C. Barry
While maintaining that the City of Laval isn’t facing an imminent opioid abuse crisis, officials responsible for public safety have decided to make a well-known antidote medication widely available as a treatment for opioid overdoses.
The Laval Police held a media briefing on June 4 at their headquarters in conjunction with Urgences-Santé to explain the deployment of 64 kits containing naloxone, which can be used to reverse the deadly side effects of fentanyl overdoses.
Fentanyl’s fatal potency
The action is being taken as the powerful painkilling opioid fentanyl increasingly makes headlines. One hundred times more powerful than morphine, and forty times more powerful than heroin, fentanyl is often being used by illicit dealers of narcotics to strengthen or dilute their offerings – although many users often have no idea that what they are taking can easily be fatally potent.
As Laval city councillor and executive-committee member for public safety Sandra Desmeules explained during the press conference, Fentanyl has proven itself to be highly useful when used properly under medical supervision. However, she added, in 2016 alone, more than 20,000 U.S. residents died from fentanyl overdoses.
Spreading in Canada
“The distribution of this illicit drug is starting to spread here in Canada, more specifically in British Columbia,” said Desmeules. “Fentanyl, which was first and foremost supposed to treat chronic pain, is now found on our streets. This opioid of rare strength is used among other things by drug producers to cut heroin and cocaine. So you can understand how this can become a fatal cocktail.”
According to Desmeules, at least four individuals died from fentanyl overdoses in Laval in 2017. In addition, the Laval Police made a number of seizures of fentanyl on Laval’s territory. However, she insisted, “I want to assure the population that the City of Laval is not undergoing an opioid crisis. We are currently in prevention mode for the well-being of the population.
Equipped with naloxone
“This is the reason why we have signed an agreement with the Corporation Urgences-Santé to supply our policemen and policewomen from the Laval Police Department with naloxone,” added Desmeules. “Naloxone is the most efficient antidote against fentanyl.
“It allows lives to be saved when a person is in an overdose situation. The presence of opioids on our territory is a major preoccupation, as you no doubt are aware. This is why it is primordial for the Laval administration to have the necessary tools in order to react adequately in crisis situations.”
As part of the program, 30 kits containing naloxone is various administration forms are being placed in Laval Police patrol vehicles, while others are being distributed to police investigators and to local police precincts. Urgences-Santé has trained Laval Police officers in the method for administering naloxone.
A new occupational hazard
At the same time, the police are also being trained in protective measures (including gloves, goggles and coveralls) to protect themselves from fentanyl contamination. There have been a number of reported incidents in the U.S. and elsewhere in which police responding to crime scenes where raw fentanyl was found fell ill after being exposed unprotected to relatively small quantities of fentanyl dust.
As Laval Police Chief Pierre Brochet pointed out, one of the hazards involved with illicit fentanyl is that it comes in various forms that can make it very difficult to detect. These include powders, sprays, blotter paper, granules, tablets or pasted on the back of stamps. He also noted that the old cliché about a drug dealer sticking his finger in a bag of white powder and taking a lick to check if it’s real no longer applies, since just a few grains of fentanyl will kill an adult.
Cynthia Abraham
June 11 – Laval police are searching for a suspect who held up a service station in March.
On March 14 at about 9:30 a.m., the suspect entered the Shell station located at 480 Boul. Curé-Labelle in Fabreville. He approached the counter and showed the cashier the gun he was carrying. Then he demanded the contents of the cash register. He fled the scene on foot.
The suspect is described as a white male in his 40s. He stands about 5-foot-10-inches tall, and weighs about 200 pounds. At the time of the robbery, he was wearing a black coat with the inscription ECKO 1972 INLTD, blue jeans, a black tuque, and sunglasses.
June 8 – Laval police are turning to the public for help in identifying a suspect who allegedly uttered racist comments to a woman quietly making photocopies at a pharmacy.
On May 16 at around 9 a.m., a woman was making copies at the Phamaprix located at 960 Boul. Curé-Labelle. When a man appeared beside her, she offered to let him use the copier immediately rather than wait for her to be done.
The man ignored her offer and instead confronted the woman with hateful, racist and threatening remarks about the victim’s nationality. Then he left the pharmacy, without making any photocopies.
The bigoted suspect is described as a (rather short!) white male, 45-50 years old. He measures about 5-foot-6, and has black hair. At the time of the incident, the suspect was wearing a blue coat, red sweater, light blue jeans, a dark baseball cap, and sunglasses.
Anyone with information about this incident can contact Laval police at 450-662-INFO (4636) and mention file LVL 180522 055.
June 4 – After being convicted of fraud last week, Lucie Paquette was sentenced to six years in prison for defrauding 13 victims of a combined $1.3 million.
The 53-year-old grifter told all her victims the same tall tale: She was expecting a large inheritance, but it was being contested in court and she needed money to pay for legal and notary fees. Paquette took cash, cheques, and bank transfers from the individuals she conned, promising to repay them with interest, as soon as she collected her inheritance.
Laval police arrested Paquette in May 2017, after six of her victims came forward and filed complaints that she’d scammed them out of more than one million dollars, collectively. Seven more victims came forward after seeing media reports of Paquette’s arrest.
According to police, Paquette used this same ruse before in 2007, successfully swiping $180,000 from her victims before law enforcement shut her down. More than a decade earlier, the recidivist grifter had pled guilty to fraud charges in Montreal.
In order to prevent a Fentanyl deaths, the City of Laval Police is equipped with the opioid antidote Naloxone. It was announced recently in response to a rise of the number of deaths across Canada related to the powerful painkiller.
In Laval, five deaths and seven raids related to fentanyl occured since since 2017. Laval police teamed up with Urgences-santé to provide police officers with access to 60 doses of naloxone and train them on how to administer it in case of an overdose.
Martin C. Barry
After receiving the unanimous endorsement of his riding association last Sunday, certifying him as the Quebec Liberal Party’s candidate in the upcoming provincial election, incumbent Chomedey MNA Guy Ouellette said the Laval region’s voters will send ‘six of out six’ Liberal MNAs to Quebec City if the currently ruling Liberals form another majority government.
“If we are six in Laval we are in power in Quebec City,” Ouellette said in an acceptance speech he delivered to supporters who gathered under a tent in the rear yard at Centre du Sablon. He urged all Liberals to speak to their neighbours and family about the necessity of getting out to vote on Oct. 1.
Liberal dominance
Although Chomedey is a longtime PLQ stronghold, and Laval’s five other provincial ridings are currently also Liberal, the Liberals’ political dominance of the region is by no means a certainty.
While the Liberals have been able count on support from the voters in Fabre, Vimont and Mille-Îles for more than a decade, the same cannot be said of Sainte Rose, which voted PQ as recently as 2012, or Laval-des-Rapides, where the voters have been notorious for vacilating in support between the PQ and the Liberals in numerous elections.
“Normally when we are six out of six, we’re in power in Quebec City with a majority government,” Ouellette said in an interview with the Laval News afterwards.
‘We need to be six’
“In the old days when the Parti Québécois was in power, only Chomedey stayed Liberal and the rest were Parti Québécois. For us, it’s really important to defend the interests of the people of Laval. That’s why we need to be six and we will work hard to be six.”
As Ouellette recalled, a minority PQ government in 2012 resulted in two Laval seats going to the PQ and four to the Liberals. However, with the PQ performing so lamentably heading into this election, and the Coalition Avenir Québec’s popularity rising proportionally, the political scenario in Laval could be changing.
Is CAQ cause for concern?
Asked whether he is concerned about the CAQ’s surge of good fortune, while also taking into account that the CAQ has become predominant just north of Laval in the North Shore region, Ouellette responded: “I think it’s a matter for the voters to see who can serve them best. Those who will be voting will have to consider whether they will be better served by a Liberal candidate or they want to make a change.”
All the same, he stood by the incumbent Liberal government’s record. “We have started building a prosperous Quebec for our next generations,” said Ouellette. “Why break all this and restart insecurely? I think we will have to work hard and we need to convince every citizen that they get in their riding the best MNAs who are Liberal.”
A show of support
Among the guests at the gathering were former Chomedey Liberal MNA Lise Bacon, Quebec Consumer Protection Minister Lise Thériault, Mille-Îles Liberal MNA and Minister for Senior Citizens Francine Charbonneau, Fabre MNA Monique Sauvé, Laval-des-Rapides MNA Saul Polo, Sainte-Rose MNA Jean Habel and Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board chairwoman Jennifer Maccarone.
Delivering a testimonial to Ouellette’s effectiveness as an MNA, SWLSB Ward 8 commissioner for the Chomedey area Vicky Kaliotzakis said: “When the Anglophone community of Laval was looking for a champion to help them get equalized taxes and lower the taxes he was there.
SWLSB official grateful
“He was the only MNA to deposit a petition in the National Assembly and he spoke publicly about this issue and lobbied to make real change that would help our minority position,” she continued. “He did make it political, he made it personal. He worked for us as though he were a member of the minority Anglophone community and he didn’t let us down.”
According to Kaliotzakis, Ouellette also stood up for the English-speaking community two years ago when the National Assembly’s proposed Bill 86 threatened to shut down school boards. “Guy was also there,” she pointed out, “even though it couldn’t have been easy.” She said Ouellette helped them fight for their rights to keep locally-elected representatives on school boards.
Martin C. Barry
In her 2018 report on the City of Laval’s overall performance, auditor-general Véronique Boily says the absence of a specific policy to oversee the municipality’s inventory of goods, tools and equipment “is hindering the consistency of management, while periodic inventories “are not providing reliable information on the quantities held and their value.”
‘Mechanisms’ lacking
Also in the report, which was released last week, Boily added that “the mechanisms in place are not adequately protecting inventories, particularly in municipal garages where access controls are insufficient.”
In response to these and other issues, the Laval auditor-general’s office made 10 recommendations, including that an inventory management policy supported by the use of a specialized software package and the training of employees be implemented.
Boily’s remarks come following a report in 2015 that the City of Laval wasn’t taking enough precautions in overseeing its motor vehicle fuel depot at the public works yards. Boily, who came into office only last year, said her knowledge of that issue is fairly limited, although she noted that the previous auditor-general made recommendations about the fuel depot that she presumed were taken seriously by the city.
Filling up on free gas
According to Michèle Galipeau, who preceded Boily as auditor-general, at least one official from the auditor general’s office was sent out to test whether it was possible to fill up at a municipal gas pump without hindrance – and, of course, without paying. According to Galipeau’s office, there was no security of any sort at the time and they were able to take gas at most of the refueling sites maintained by the municipality.
Boily’s criticisms of the City of Laval’s inventory systems weren’t all she had to say. Regarding the city’s methods for personnel hiring, she noted that in 2014 the City of Laval adopted what she called “a relatively clear staffing policy. However, it lacks precision in certain regards,” Boily added, “including when appointments without calling for applications can be justified.”
‘Careful attention’ needed
While maintaining that her analysis of a sampling of 20 files cannot be used to generalize on all the city’s hirings, Boily said “they deserve careful attention since they reveal discrepancies with the principles of the policy or with best practices, whether in terms of identifying needs, meeting eligibility requirements or procedures.
In addition, she pointed out, the computer system that supports staffing activities within the City of Laval administration “meets only part of user requirements.” With regards to these hiring issues, the auditor-general’s office consequently made 14 recommendations in response to these findings.
With regard to the City of Laval’s urban inspection services, Boily noted that the city has few working tools and references to define and simplify management and ensure a standardized documentation of files. As well, she continued, measures are not in place to inspect at appropriate times all permits and certificates issues.
Twelve recommendations
In this regard alone, the auditor-general made 12 recommendations, including one that tools and procedures (a methodological guide, working templates, structured file prioritization and performance indicators) be implemented to ensure inspection activities are conducted more efficiently.
For her 2017 report, Boily audited the city’s financial statements, as well as those of the Société de transport de Laval and the Office municipal d’habitation de Laval. As well, she conducted a compliance audit of the City of Laval’s overall real taxation rate. Boily issued generally favourable statements for each of these audits.
Recommendation compliance
A review of the auditor-general office’s recommendation follow-up process aims to ensure that the city’s various administrative units implement actions plans to address the recommendations made by the office within a maximum period of four years. According to Boily’s report, the office obtained action plans for all the recommendations made in the 2016 annual report.
Boily’s office also measured the rate of implementation of the recommendations after a period of four years. As of last Dec. 31, the rate was 86 per cent, compared to 96 per cent and 98 per cent for the four-year periods ending Dec. 31, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2015. Boily said the decrease was mainly due to the audit of the 3-1-1 call centre performed in 2013, for which only five out of 12 recommendations were implemented to the satisfaction of the auditor-general’s office.
