From June 1 to September 3, each time Environment Canada issues a smog warning, the Laval Transit Corporation (STL) will reduce its bus fare rate to $ 1 on its entire regular bus network. and collective taxis for the next day.

With this program, the STL wants to promote eco-responsible habits in order to reduce the number of cars in circulation, which are largely responsible for air pollution.

“We are pleased to re-launch Smog Alert for the tenth year in a row. This initiative, unique in Canada, encourages the use of public transportation in Laval on days when poor air quality can have adverse effects on the health of Laval residents, “says Eric Morasse, vice President of the STL’s Board of Directors.

STL’s regular cash rate is $ 3.25. The special $ 1 fare awarded on smog days is a reduction of nearly 70%.

Watch for smog alerts!

The STL distributes a special bulletin on its website, on social media, on electronic signs in the city of Laval, on variable message signs from the Ministry of Transport, Sustainable Mobility and Transportation Electrification (MTMDET ), which are located along the main highways of the region in addition to communicating information to the various media.

Martin C. Barry

With a provincial election scheduled for this fall and a federal election also set for the end of next year, there’s no better time than now it would seem for elected officials from Quebec City and Ottawa to make good on past pledges to inject more money into environmentally-sustainable public transit projects.

Buses and electrification

Leaders from the federal and provincial governments were at Société de transport de Laval administrative headquarters on May 11 to announce a combined investment of $26.8 million for the realization of 14 transit-related projects by the STL. The purchase of new buses being will be the main expenditure, although the STL also plans to use some of the funding to launch its first all-electric bus line.

Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue in the Trudeau Liberal government, and Saul Polo, MNA for Laval-des-Rapides with the Quebec Liberals, were joined by other federal, provincial and municipal officials to announce the funding, which was being made under the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund.

Ottawa, Quebec, STL

The federal government will be providing more than $14.9 million for the projects, while Quebec will contribute over $11.9 million. The STL will provide the remaining funding. In addition to the electrified bus line and the new buses, the money will also be used to add new technologies to streamline boarding for passengers.

Once completed, according to the STL and the two governments, the STL’s performance, efficiency and reliability will be improved, public transit in Laval will be more inclusive and allow the STL to meet the community’s immediate needs while preparing for anticipated future increases in ridership.

Boosting the economy

“The governments of Canada and Quebec recognize that investing in public transit infrastructure is crucial to economic growth, reducing air pollution, and creating inclusive communities where everyone has access to public services and job opportunities,” the two governments said in a joint statement.

“Modern efficient public transit infrastructure plays an important role in the development of sustainable communities and the growth of the middle class,” said Lebouthillier, speaking on behalf of Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Amarjeet Sohi.

“By investing in projects such as these in Laval, the Government of Canada is helping communities across Quebec improve residents’ mobility, meet increasing demand and provide key amenities to encourage economic development,” she added.

Public transit’s importance

“I am particularly pleased to see that governments at the federal and provincial levels have taken the importance of transportation in the Laval region to heart,” said Polo, speaking on behalf of André Fortin, Minister of Transport, Sustainable Mobility and Transport Electrification in the Quebec Liberal cabinet.

“These investments will support a clean-growth economy that will benefit Laval residents for generations,” said Vimy Liberal MP Eva Nassif.

“The City of Laval is pleased with the funding provided by the Canadian and Quebec governments for the STL to carry out innovative projects, the primary objective of which is to make public transport more attractive to Laval residents,” said Mayor Marc Demers.

‘Right direction,’ says Demers

“This series of projects, made possible through the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund (PTIF), is an integral part of our efforts to promote active and public transportation while decreasing our greenhouse gas emissions,” Demers added. “This is definitely a step in the right direction.”

“The STL is very grateful for this new show of confidence from the Canadian and Quebec governments,” said Laval city councillor Gilbert Dumas, who is president of the STL. “We are particularly excited about this new set of projects, many of which will mark the history of the STL, notably in terms of electrification.”

Dumas said the 14 approved projects “will allow the STL not only to modernize its equipment, but also to maintain its status as a leader in providing passengers with real-time information and in embracing all forms of innovation, with the goal to provide service that is always more efficient and viable than solo driving.”

Martin C. Barry

The Quebec Liberals face a potentially difficult struggle leading towards the October provincial election, a ranking member of Premier Philippe Couillard’s cabinet acknowledged during a speech delivered in Laval during an investiture meeting for incumbent Laval-des-Rapides Liberal MNA Saul Polo last weekend.

Tough times ahead

“The elections that are coming will not be an easy battle,” Economy, Science and Innovation Minister Dominique Anglade told the more than 150 supporters who came out to École de l’Arc-en-ciel on Meunier St. on May 12 to see Saul Polo crowned the PLQ’s Laval-des-Rapides candidate.

Alluding to surveys that came out last week showing the Coalition Avenir Québec ahead in the polls and the Liberals behind, Anglade remained upbeat.

‘We are determined’

“Remember that we are ready, that we are determined to win the next election, that we are working relentlessly, but mostly that we need Saul Polo with us at the National Assembly next Oct. 2 [the day after the election],” Anglade said.

Firing one of the first salvos of the 2018 pre-campaign period, Municipal Affairs Minister Martin Coiteux took aim at the CAQ when he noted, regarding the PLQ, that if “you listen to the speeches of the political parties, there’s just one – one in the National Assembly – that can and is willing and which has demonstrated it during all its history, that it promotes the unity of all Quebecers.”

CAQ in PLQ’s sights

Alluding a little more directly to the CAQ, Coiteux continued, “We have never divided Quebecers in terms of their being Canadians. No, we have never incited Quebecers to break from the Canadian federation. We are federalist. We are the only real federalist party in the National Assembly.

“The CAQ is not a federalist party,” he added. “The CAQ is a party that on this question is seated on the fence and doesn’t know on which side it will fall.” Referring to the CAQ’s leader, François Legault, Coiteux said, “He’s perhaps changed his mind several times. And it is, in fact, his habit to change his mind virtually a few times a day.

Questions about Legault

“But I’m not sure he’s changed his mind on this fundamental question with regards to being part of Canada. I’m not convinced at all. And I don’t think he’s going to be able to persuade Quebecers that he has truly changed his mind in a definite way on this question.”

Coiteux also took aim at the CAQ, as well as the Parti Québécois, for their xenophobic thinking. “The Parti Québécois and the CAQ are asking themselves whether it’s a good idea to have immigrants in Quebec and whether it might be a good idea to test them after a few years to see if they should remain to be among us in our society,” said Coiteux.

For his own part, Saul Polo, who was first elected in the 2014 Quebec general election, spoke (at times quite emotionally) about his family’s roots in the South American nation of Colombia, as well as their early experiences upon arriving in Canada and Quebec three decades ago.

Respected within the PLQ

After joining the PLQ in 2005, Polo became known within the party (as several of the Liberal cabinet ministers confirmed while praising him in their speeches last Saturday) as a loyal and reliable team player, whose contributions made a lasting impact, for example, in the riding of Westmount-St. Louis, where Polo served as the riding association president, before running and winning for the Liberals four years ago in Laval-des-Rapides.

That said, Laval-des-Rapides has a well-established reputation as being one of the most volatile swing ridings in the province, where elections are usually close and where the Liberals and the PQ have been the top two contenders for at least the past 35 years. A particular oddity about the riding is that since being created in 1981, Laval-des-Rapides has consistently voted for the winning party in every general election.

Sometimes unpredictable riding

In an interview with the Laval News, Polo acknowledged that elections in Laval-des-Rapides can be as unpredictable as the weather, but that he’s determined to give it his best shot leading towards the Oct. 1 election.

“From day one after the last election I never took things for granted,” he said. “I’ve worked very hard for the past four years. Ultimately I think that the residents and citizens of Laval-des-Rapides have seen what I’ve been able to do for the riding and I will continue to demonstrate to them that I am the best person to serve them in Quebec City.”

Martin C. Barry

In a review of grievances filed over the past year by Laval residents about city departments and services, the Laval Ombudsman’s office says a total of 526 complaints were dealt with in 2017, representing an increase of 27 per cent over 2016.

Proud of record

Nadine Mailloux, the city’s full-time Ombudsman, takes pride in the fact that her two-person office managed to deal with 68 per cent of last year’s dossiers within 30 days, as well as 52 per cent within five days or less. As well, the Ombudsman’s office says it was able last year to resolve 51 per cent of complaints cases to the satisfaction of residents who presented cases.

According to the office, the Ombudsman’s office intervened directly with the municipal administration in 23 per cent of cases. In 26 per cent of cases, the office undertook in-depth investigations. The office says that 30 per cent of the complaints received concerned services provided by the city’s Public Works and Urban Planning departments.

Listening important

“To properly understand you have to know how to listen,” Mailloux, a lawyer, said philosophically on May 2 during a briefing on her report held at the Ombudsman’s office at a high-rise building on Chomedey Blvd. a short distance from Laval city hall. “And to listen you have to take time. This time is sometimes limited, but it must be available.

“We are constantly repeating,” she continued, “that it is fundamental to give a chance to the taxpayer to explain the bases for the complaint, the circumstances which brought him or her to believe they were wronged by a decision, or the special treatment they are claiming for themselves, or the correction they want to make to an analysis which has been made. It thus becomes possible to consider these or to provide guidance.

Not the city’s lawyer, she says

“I advocate for an approach that’s always open and impartial, because as I often say I am not the city’s lawyer and I am not the citizens’ lawyer either – I am here to examine the circumstances of a dossier and ensure that there is a solution that is right for everyone. We try to make our decisions and our exchanges with citizens as simple as possible, keeping in mind equity and being open and accountable.”

According to the Ombudsman’s 2017 annual report, complaints made by residents to the office fall into six categories: Application of urban planning and inspection regulations, traffic, delays in getting service, administrative procedures, zoning and payment of taxes.

Examples of cases

The report contains more than a dozen examples of the types of complaints received by the Ombudsman last year. They range from snow being blown onto private property by the city during the winter, to inadequate followups by municipal inspectors.

The examples also include a complaint from a citizen about noise coming from a municipal pumping station that was disturbing her in her home, a property owner being forced to put up with newly-opened restaurant/bars near his home, and another property owner being charged a fee by the city for snow removal which was never done.

Martin C. Barry

Vimy Liberal MP Eva Nassif has announced the federal government’s support for the fight against homelessness in Laval through increased financial assistance to two local organizations: Maison Dominique and the Oasis Mobile Intervention Unit.

Fighting homelessness

“Funding initiatives like the HPS help communities develop and deliver important tools and services, a crucial part of the fight against homelessness and poverty,” Nassif said during a press conference held at Maison Dominique in Laval-des-Rapides last week. “I am proud that these two organizations continue their remarkable and essential work and that, one step at a time, they bring comfort and safety to those in need.”

Maison Dominique, whose mission is to provide stability, dignity and security to people at risk of homelessness, was awarded a subsidy of $36,993. Oasis Mobile Intervention Unit, providing on-the-ground intervention and services on the streets of Laval with a mobile unit since 1995, received a subsidy of $33,940.

According to Nassif, the two organizations will be able to continue their efforts to reduce homelessness in Laval and offer unequaled support to people in need. “Homeless is a serious problem and should be treated as such,” she said.

Support for the vulnerable

“Whenever someone is undergoing a crisis, it is always the devotion of those working for organizations like Oasis Mobile Intervention Unit and Maison Dominique who are there to support our most vulnerable people. This financial support will help them to deliver their services in Vimy and to make the area more inclusive and a better place to live.”

According to the Maison Dominique’s web site, they offer a home environment to homeless individuals afflicted with HIV on a short and long term basis. “Our approach takes into account the individual in his or her globality and places the emphasis on their potentiality and not their limitations,” they say. “We believe that each of us is entitled to respect, dignity and support without regard to social or serological status.”

Helping those in dire need

In a mission statement on the Oasis Mobile Intervention web site, Oasis says the group exists to offer “front line” intervention to persons in Laval 12 years of age and older who are in dire need by listening, referring and preventing.

“We meet people who are in need directly in their environment. Our organization sets out to meet people who are marginalized and who are often not served by other resources. Oasis seeks to establish decisive and significant relationships with its clients with the goal of providing them with concrete and immediate assistance.”

Resources lacking

Following Nassif’s announcement, representatives of the two groups took part in an exchange with her on various issues that affect them. “It’s very difficult to help someone out of homelessness when they can’t find a place to live,” said one, complaining that Laval has almost no available social housing where homeless persons might be placed.

“The biggest challenge we are facing now is finding housing to get people out of poverty and homelessness,” she said. While another complained that the federal government did little or nothing for decades to provide support for social housing, the current Liberal government has launched some new initiatives since 2015 when they came to power.

Federal aid available

Among other things, the government launched the Surplus Federal Real Property for Homelessness Initiative, which makes surplus federal real-estate available to communities for projects that help stabilize the living arrangements of homeless individuals and families and those at risk of becoming homeless.

The government claims that the initiative has proven to be an effective way of supporting communities in their efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness, while ensuring that surplus federal real-estate continues to fulfill the objectives of the government, even after they have outlived their original purpose.

Martin C. Barry

A man who operates a small limousine service out of a residential neighbourhood in Laval-des-Rapides says he wants to know why the City of Laval is singling him out for violating a zoning by-law, when he’s not doing anything differently from other Laval-based limousine operators.

Milad Abdul-Sater’s situation was one of the more than 500 cases dealt with last year by the Laval Ombudsman’s office. Abdul-Sater has also pleaded with Mayor Marc Demers to look into his situation during public question periods at recent city council meetings.

Neighbour’s complaint

As spelled out in the Laval Ombudsman’s annual report which was released recently, one of Abdul-Sater’s neighbours filed a complaint with the city. The neighbour maintained that the operation of a limousine business, even a small one, was incompatible with the neighbourhood’s “residential” zoning and character.

According to the Ombudsman’s report, the neighbour was also unhappy about the fact the city had refused to intervene. The Ombudsman concluded that “the usage being made by the owners of the property did not correspond to the domestic use of office type, as defined by article 16 of By-law L-2000.”

Ombudsman’s report

She recommended to the city’s urban planning service that they end the commercial usage in a fashion as to uphold the “strictly residential character of the sector,” the report stated. For his part, Abdul-Sater thinks By-law L-2000 is arbitrary in that it forbids parking of vehicles larger than a certain size, while overlooking others such as small school buses.

“The inspector came to my house, to the driveway, and said, ‘You’re not allowed to park in the driveway,’” Abdul-Sater said in an interview with the Laval News. “I said, ‘How come? It’s been ten years that I’m parking here. What’s the problem?’ He says there is a law, By-law L-2000: 16 feet and 6 inches you’re not allowed to park. And he says that’s a rule that goes back 50 years.”

More than meets the eye

However, Abdul-Sater maintains there’s much more to the situation than is spelled out in the municipal regulations and the Ombudsman’s report. He painted a picture involving neighbours, some of whom were operating businesses out of homes, but who evidently weren’t seeing eye to eye.

Among the businesses that have been operating from residences in the neighbourhood, Abdul-Sater maintained, was one a few houses away from his own, where the owner, he claimed, was running an automotive garage and detailing service. And Abdul-Sater was in a position to know: he did business himself with the neighbour, whom he hired at one point as a driver for one of his limousines.

‘Business within a business’

But then, according to Abdul-Sater, they had a falling out. The neighbour, it seems, started creating what Abdul-Sater calls a “business within a business,” in other words promoting a venture of his own while driving the boss’s limousine.

“During his work he started to give out his business card – body work, paint, interiors and car wash,” he said. “He used to do the maintenance of all my limos: changing oil, winter tires, summer tires, cleaning inside, outside, paint treatments, waxing, everything.” There was a falling-out between the two over ways of doing business and Abdul-Sater said he terminated his employment.

Home business operators

In the meantime, said Abdul-Sater, another neighbour, also operating a home business, although of a type considered acceptable by the city in a residential environment, had a dispute of his own over spacing between their properties. “The two merged together to give me a hard time,” he said, maintaining the complaint about his vehicles was their doing.

But in the end, the home garage operator himself ended up being given a warning by the city and the garage has been closed since then. Abdul-Sater has also been issued warnings about his limousines, but no fines up to this point. But in the meantime, he is left wondering about a system that allows some business owners to continue operating, while others are subject to municipal by-laws that only seem to kick in when there are complaints.

Martin C. Barry

Quebec Liberal Minister for Small and Medium Enterprise Stéphane Billette was at the offices of computer security systems developer Terranova WW Corp. on de l’Avenir Blvd. in Laval on May 7 to announce a $15 million subsidy by the provincial government to Inno-Centre, a business “accelerator” that has helped computer security systems developer Terranova improve its efficiency.

Supporting success

“We are proud to support business accelerators that perform like Inno-centre,” said Billette, who was accompanied by Laval-des-Rapides MNA Saul Polo and Fabre MNA Monique Sauvé.

“They are partners who are essential for the economic development of the regions of Quebec. The assistance they offer to our innovating small and medium enterprises facilitates the acceleration of their growth and expansion internationally.”

“Businesses in Laval, like those elsewhere in Quebec, have an exceptional capacity to innovate and everything that is necessary to expand in foreign markets,” said Polo. “We are therefore happy to offer them, through this important financial support accorded to Inno-centre, customized assistance in order to prepare them to face the various issues involved in export. We are proud at the same time to be able to make this announcement in Laval-des-Rapides and to see that a business here is flourishing.”

Facilitating expert advice

“Thanks to this major investment by the government of Quebec, Inno-centre will be able to offer the support of expert advisors of international calibre to hundreds of innovative SMEs in Quebec,” said Claude Martel, president of Inno-centre. “This support, which is being provided during a key moment of their growth, will significantly increase the probabilities that some of them will become future large businesses.”

“For more than 30 years, Inno-centre has been contributing to the growth and the success of businesses in the regional of Laval, such as Terranova WW Corp., and everywhere in Quebec,” Mille-Îles MNA Francine Charbonneau said in a statement.

Helping small business

“It is therefore with great enthusiasm that we help it today to improve its support to innovative SMEs, of which several are active in the innovative manufacturing sector, so that they can stand above their competitors internationally,” she continued.

“This kind of assistance program meets the goals of Investissement Québec’s Manufacturing Initiative, which aims to increasingly support the innovative manufacturing sector in all the regions, but notably here in Laval.”

Martin C. Barry

Laval’s blue collar workers had a special surprise in store for those attending the monthly city council meeting on May 1 – a noisy May Day demonstration that left Mayor Marc Demers perplexed as he tried to understand the union’s underlying motive.

A noisy evening

“I am somewhat surprised to hear this kind of noise this evening,” Demers said at the beginning of the meeting, while speaking above the din being generated outside by the workers. He noted that a collective agreement with the workers was signed recently after being accepted by a large percentage of the union membership.

According to the mayor, the terms of the collective agreement included a good number of concessions by the city, including more hirings and salary increases. He apologized for the noise, saying it made the proceedings more difficult, but that there was nothing that could be done.

City council passes Pontic Genocide resolution

During a portion of the meeting reserved for city councillors’ announcements, Chomedey councillor Aglaia Revelakis presented a resolution to have the Pontic Greek Genocide recognized by the City of Laval, just as many cities in Quebec, Canada and the world have already. The resolution was unanimously adopted following extensive efforts by Revelakis.

“Today, we officially recognize and commemorate the memory of those who were exterminated, massacred or deported from their native land and whose children and grandchildren now live in Laval,” she said to a group of representatives from the Hellenic community following the council meeting. “This is a solemn and historic moment for you, who now participate in our Canadian society,” she added.

EV subsidy criticized

During the public question period, Benoit Blanchard questioned city council’s recent decision to offer a $2,000 subsidy to buyers of electric vehicles. “I wonder if you understand who this subsidy will actually be benefiting,” he said, maintaining that those who currently buy electric vehicles are households which are economically well off and that already own two or more vehicles.

“That’s understandable, since with an electric vehicle you can’t plan a trip to the Saguenay or to Gaspésie. Going to Toronto, you might agree, it takes too much time to recharge when half-way there. And so that we might understand each other, I’m not against the environment. Hydrogen-driven cars are coming, and I intend to be among the first to buy one whether there’s a subsidy or not.

The cost per household

“But taking into account that this subsidy is being launched on the basis of municipal taxes,” he continued, “I would imagine that, if the provincial government reaches its sales goals which are unrealistic, we’re talking about $200 per household that it is going to cost to finance this subsidy. However, for a family that has difficulty having both ends meet, what does $200 represent? It’s $200 less for them to spend.” He asked Mayor Marc whether these aspects were taken into consideration when deciding to create the subsidy.

Mayor defends subsidy

Responding, Mayor Demers insisted that money for the subsidy is not coming from taxpayers. As he explained, a law governing a special tax imposed for the recovery of greenhouse gases makes it mandatory to re-use the money for the further reduction of greenhouse gases.

“Yes, the vehicles are more and more efficient in terms of their autonomy,” Demers said, noting the City of Laval’s support for the installation of new electric charging stations and that “the government of Quebec is coming along with a policy for rapid electric charging station a little bit everywhere in the province.

“So what’s happening goes beyond the City of Laval since it is something involving the province.” The mayor went on to say, “When I see the increase in the cost of gas over just the last two days, I am even more convinced that we made the right decision.”

Local farm producers pleased

Also during question period, Gilles Lacroix, an agricultural producer from Laval, noted that in 1988 local agricultural producers signed an agreement with the City of Laval decreeing that 28 per cent of the island’s territory would be dedicated to agricultural activities.

According to Lacroix, local agriculturalists are pleased with the current municipal administration. He also thanked the mayor and council for adopting a buy-local policy that encourages Laval residents to purchase agricultural products grown on Laval’s territory.

Martin C. Barry

The Chevaliers de Colomb’s five councils in Laval came together on Sunday May 6 from 11 am to 8 pm to hold their first annual Spaghetti Day at the Laval Sheraton. It was a great success, according to an organizer.

“Things went great,” said René Marchand, a Laval Chevaliers de Colomb member who coordinated the all-day event. It was the first time the five C de C councils in Laval united for a single fundraising event.

A great success

According to Marchand, 1,300 tickets had been sold by late afternoon when the evening crowd was just starting to come in. Since the goal was 1,500 tickets, it looked like the results would exceed the C de C’s best expectations.

Among the major sponsors supporting the event were Barbies restaurants (who furnished all the sauce and pasta), Aubut Distributaire Alimentaire (who supplied disposable dishware as well as other necessities), and Members of the National Assembly who furnished financial support.

For Cité de la Santé

All profits from this fundraising event are going to the Cité de la Santé Foundation. For part of the day, Laval’s city councillors provided service. Later, Laval’s six MNAs (Francine Charbonneau, Monique Sauvé, Jean Rousselle, Guy Ouellette, Jean Habel and Saul Polo) were on hand to do the same.

Marchand said the Chevaliers are already preparing for next year’s Spaghetti Day, which will be taking place on May 5, 2019. According to Marchand, the same sponsors, whose generosity he praised, have agreed to come back on board and take part once again next year.