Laval’s new housing code came into effect March 1, 2018
(TLN) A new housing code that was adopted by Laval city council last September came into effect on March 1. The new regulations set out ways for tenants as well as landlords to safeguard themselves against nuisances and unsanitary conditions.
Intervention required
They also allow the city to intervene and ask for repairs or renovations when a dwelling that isn’t necessarily unsanitary needs basic repairs all the same.
One important aspect of the new code requires property owners and pest exterminators to reveal infestations of bed bugs. Tenants are also required to advise owners immediately of any bed bug infestations.
Sanitary housing assured
“The city’s new housing code offers to all tenants and all landlords a tool to assure sanitary and secure habitats,” says Mayor Marc Demers.
“In addition to legitimizing the interventions of the city in cases of insalubrity, the code allows us to demand repairs or renovations so that dwellings which are lived in are sanitary and secure.”
Preventive actions
Among other things, the new housing code forbids property owners or tenants from doing anything that may lead to unsanitary conditions, such as allowing mould to propagate, neglecting the presence of insects or ignoring other types of parasite.
The code also obliges landlords to do basic renovations or repairs on fundamental fixtures in a dwelling, such as the kitchen sink, the toilet, shower or bath, while requiring them to repair the roof, doors or windows.
With the adoption of the 2018 budget city council voted for a 50% increase in the home support program for seniors aged 65 and over. This announced increase in budget will have immediate effect as it is to be implemented in the year 2018. Regulation L-12573 modified by the members of the executive committee amends by-law L-12221 to reflect this increase.
When the new by-law is adopted by city council Laval’s subsidy program for seniors will increase from $ 100 to $ 150 per year per eligible person aged 65 or over acting as a tenant, owner or occupant. It will also increase from $ 200 to $ 300 per year when the eligible person receives the Guaranteed Income Supplement from the Government of Canada under the Old Age Security Act (RSC, 1995, cO-9).
Second MADA Action Plan
The city of Laval which has been recognized since 2014 as a municipality that is friendly to seniors and gained the (MADA) accreditation has tabled and adopted its report on the achievements of the municipal MADA Action Plan for 2014-2017. This activity was related to the measures taken to achieve this certification.
The report which will be transmitted to Quebec’s Ministry of Family will also be made public. Also, the summaries of briefings, consultations and the modes of communication employed to achieve this end will be released. The members of the executive committee also authorized the submission of an application for financial assistance of $ 80,000 to Laval’s Seniors Secretariat (Secrétariat des aînés) to support the development of the second action plan MADA (2018-2020). The MADA Partners Committee will be given the mandate to act as the steering committee for the development of this action plan.
Initiated in Quebec by the Department of Family and Seniors, the MADA (Municipalité amie des aînés) program recognizes municipalities that adapt their services and structures to the needs of seniors.
Local Investment Fund
The Executive Committee approved the recommendations of the Investment Committee of the Local Investment Fund (FLI) and authorized the payment of a loan of $ 70,000 to consolidate the start-up of La Boîte maraîchère (The Vegetable Box). The mission of this company is to produce organic fresh quality produce without pesticides or GMO which can be sold in local food markets twelve months a year. To achieve all year-round production the company has designed a system of intensive agricultural production in containers.
Through the Local Investment Fund (FLI) the City of Laval stimulates the growth of local entrepreneurship, to develop promising economic sectors and emerging markets by providing access to capital for the start-up or growth phase of new businesses.
Assessment of the development plan of the agricultural zone
The members of the executive committee tabled the annual report for the Development Plan of the Agricultural Zone committee (PDZA) for the period ending on December 31st 2017 and the action plans of the Laval Agri-Food Development Committee Table (TDAL) for 2018. Activities proposed for 2018 highlight five major orientations and nine priority projects and also include the proposed actions agreed to by the six committees of TDAL, which has a total of 42 members.
Laval is one of the few cities in Quebec where urban life is close to a permanent agricultural zone, which occupies 30% of its territory, or 7,000 hectares. This area is farmed by no less than 121 operations in addition to a network of 53 farm kiosks. Annual revenues of $ 60 million are derived from the sale of local products. Agriculture is a major component of Laval’s economic vitality and is integrated with urban activity in the same way as trade and industry.
On June 13th 2016 Laval unveiled its Agricultural Zone Development Plan (PDZA) to enhance the agricultural area of Laval by promoting the sustainable development of agricultural activities. The work surrounding the PDZA made it possible to draw up a strategic diagnosis of the agricultural sector in Laval and to identify the orientations and the priority projects for the next 5 years.
Jeux du Québec Laval in 2020 looking for a volunteer to represent Laval on its board of directors
The City of Laval, through its Governance Secretariat, is looking for a person to act as an administrator of the board of directors the 2020 Quebec Games as a representative of the community. The chosen candidate will sit on the Organizing Committee of the Final of the Jeux du Québec. This non-profit organization is responsible for organizing the event.
In addition to duties as an administrator the successful candidate will be responsible for volunteerism and be the acting community spokesperson. Responsibilities include overseeing training, supporting the management in the recruitment process, mobilization and recognition of volunteers. This is a 3-year term.
Full details of this position are available on the Laval website Governance Secretariat page https://www.laval.ca/Pages/Fr/A-propos/secretariat-gouvernance.aspx
Those wishing to apply must send their curriculum vitae and cover letter before March 16, 2018 by email.
The War Amps begins its 2018 key tag mailing to households this week with the theme, “Still Much to Do,” as the Association celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Éloi is a member of The War Amps Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program.
Amputee veterans returning from the First World War started The War Amps in 1918 to assist each other in adapting to their new reality as amputees. They then welcomed amputee veterans following the Second World War and established the Key Tag Service to gain meaningful employment and provide a service to the public. The War Amps innovative programs have grown over the past 100 years from assisting war amputees – whom they still serve – to all amputees, including children. But there is “Still Much to Do” to ensure amputees have the artificial limbs they need to lead independent and active lives.
Louis Bourassa, Director of The War Amps CHAMP Program (Quebec), wrote the letter which accompanies this year’s key tags. He lost his right leg at the age of four in a lawn mower accident. A member of The War Amps Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program, he later started work with the Association, the war amputees he had come to know while growing up continued to provide advice and support on living with amputation. He says, “It moves me greatly to think of how these remarkable First and Second World War ‘amps’ enabled me to overcome my amputation, and I have been proud to, in turn, help the younger amputees who have come after me.”
The Key Tag Service continues to employ amputees and people with disabilities and has returned more than 1.5 million sets of lost keys since its inception. Each key tag has a confidentially coded number. If you lose your keys, the finder can call the toll-free number on the back of the tag or place them in any mailbox, and The War Amps will return them to you by courier, free of charge.
The War Amps receives no government grants. With the public’s continued support of the Key Tag Service, the Association’s programs for amputees will carry on long into the future.
Those who do not receive their key tags in the mail can order them at waramps.ca or call toll-free 514 398-0759.
Who needs ice when you’ve got enthusiasm: A group shot of Laval Senior Academy Hockey Day supporters, including LSA students, Canadian Forces soldiers and elected officials from the Laval area.
Martin C. Barry
The unpredictable weather that the Laval and Montreal regions have been experiencing in recent years played havoc with Laval Senior Academy’s annual Hockey Day event recently.
Scheduled to take place on Feb. 23 and 24, the two-day gathering – which has been highly successful in past years – was reduced this year to just two hockey matches when unseasonably warm temperatures melted the frozen surface on the Chris-Karigiannis and 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infrantry Memorial Rink behind the school on Souvenir Blvd.
MNA Guy Oullette helped with the ceremonial face off.
Mother Nature stole the ice
“The rain and the temperatures stole our ice,” said Daniel Johnson, a special education technician at Laval Senior Academy, who has been the driving force behind the tournament each year. “We had to improvise. We decided to join the weather rather than fight it.”
Had Mother Nature cooperated, the schedule on day one would have seen teams from Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board elementary schools play some outdoor ice hockey games, followed by matches of student sledge hockey, followed by an LSA vs. Laurentian Regional High School hockey match.
The schedule on Saturday would have included some Laval minor league hockey games, student ringette, a regular Memorial Cup game involving Canadian Armed Forces soldiers with local police and staff, followed by a ceremony celebrating Laval Senior Academy Hockey Excellence and Alumni.
The guys from the Laval-based 4th Batallion of the Royal 22nd Regiment were on hand to face off against their comrades from the Alberta-based 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
Memorial Cup mini-match
However, going with the flow, the participants – including the soldiers from the 3PPCLI who flew in from Alberta as they do every year to take part – played ball hockey in the warm sunshine on a quickly-improvised rink set up in the asphalted area just behind the school, and settled for a short and improvised Memorial Cup match.
Soldiers from the Laval-based 4th Batallion of the Royal 22nd Regiment also helped out with a BBQ. A La Belle Province restaurant operator pitched in with a donation of hot dog and hamburger meat for the grills. Although there was no hockey action on the ice, the LSA students and the military personnel got the chance to renew friendships.
Opportunity to make friends
While the number of spectators was lower than in years past, those who did attend enjoyed the celebration, while helping to promote student leadership and access to community sport. In the Memorial Cup game, soldiers from 3PPCLI in Alberta played the 4R22R battalion stationed in Laval.
The soldiers from 3PPCLI spent the days leading up to Hockey Day with students at the school. Chomedey MNA Guy Oullette helped perform the ceremonial face off. The Laval Police Department’s Cst. Jimmy Mourelatos was among those who turned up to show support.
Mar 2 – Police are investigating a home invasion in Duvernay that left three people in hospital after being pepper-sprayed during the incident. The trio of unidentified victims were maced at around 1 a.m. at a house located on Montpellier St. They were transported to hospital for decontamination.
Police could not confirm if the three individuals were residents of the house.
Body of Missing Teen Girl Found Behind School
Mar 1 – Police confirmed the lifeless body of 14-year-old Athena Gervais was found Thursday afternoon in a stream behind her school. She’d been missing for three days.
She was last seen leaving her school at lunchtime on Monday, February 26th, and was reported missing after she failed to return to school or home after lunch.
Laval police set up a command centre at the school she attended in Fabreville, École secondaire Poly-Jeunesse, and urged anyone with information about Gervais’ whereabouts to come forward and speak confidentially with investigators.
Firefighters participating in the search for the missing teen discovered Gervais’ body in the creek behind her school on Thursday, March 1st, at around 4:30 pm. Police had also called in a canine unit and a helicopter to assist with the search.
According to one report, Gervais and some friends allegedly stole cans of the alcoholic energy drink FCKD UP from a nearby dépanneur during that fateful lunchtime. The drink contains 11.9 % alcohol and extremely high amounts of sugar. It was denounced by health experts last fall as a dangerous drink being marketed to adolescents.
Geloso Group states their alcoholic drink, called FCKD UP, was created in response to American-made Four Loko
A preliminary report from the autopsy comfirmed that there were no signs of violence on the body, and concluded the girl’s death was accidental. The exact cause of death was not disclosed. A more detailed autopsy report, expected in the coming days, will reveal whether she consumed any substances and establish the official cause of her death.
Grief counsellors were sent to the Fabreville high-school on Friday to assist students and staff cope with the loss and shock.
Suspicious Fire at Hair Salon
Mar 1 – Laval’s arson squad is investigating a suspicious fire that broke out in a hair salon in a strip mall on Boul. Samson early last Thursday.
Firefighters were summoned to the hairdresser’s when the fire alarms went off just after 3 a.m. They arrived to find smoke coming from the salon and a small fire burning inside the locale. After quickly putting out the flames, firefighters found traces of a liquid that may have been used to start the fire.
The salon’s owners could not be reached
Third Round of Drug Raids Nets Zero Arrests
Feb 22 – Laval police officers were among the task force that carried out a third wave of raids aimed at breaking up a drug trafficking network linked to the Hells Angels. More than 60 police officers fromvarious police services were involved with executing warrants in five municipalities north of Laval.
Eight raids were carried out in residences, warehouses, and a commercial establishment.
Spearheaded by the Sûreté du Québec’s anti-organized crime task force, the third wave included members of the Laval and Montreal police services, as well as the RCMP. The raids took place in Mirabel, St-Colomban, St-André-d’Argenteuil, Ascension, and Prévost.
National Human Trafficking Hotline Human trafficking is a heinous crime that disproportionately affects women and girls, particularly Indigenous, newcomer and low-income individuals. The Government is committed to putting an end to gender-based violence and proposes to provide $14.51 million over five years, beginning in 2018–19, and $2.89 million per year ongoing, to Public Safety Canada to combat human trafficking by establishing a National Human Trafficking Hotline, including an online portal and a referral mechanism to social services and law enforcement. This hotline will help protect those vulnerable to being trafficked and enable victims to access the necessary social and law enforcement services they need. As this initiative proceeds, the Government will work with provinces and territories to ensure effective implementation.
(TLN) Laval mayor Marc Demers has announced that two city councillors will henceforth be representing the city on committees at meetings of the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ).
Aline Dib, Laval City Councillor
Dib and Tassoni
Saint-Martin city councillor Aline Dib and Laval-des-Rapides city councillor Isabella Tassoni were selected for the task of interfacing with other member municipalities at UMQ meetings.
While Dib will be sitting on the UMQ’s Commission for Culture, Leisure and Community Life, Tassoni will be on the UMQ’s Commission for Women and Governance.
Isabella Tassoni, Laval City Councillor
Representing Laval
“I am very pleased to see that the respective competencies of Mrs. Dib and Mrs. Tassoni have been recognized within the UMQ,” said Mayor Demers. “They are certain to do an impeccable job while positioning Laval and its large projects among those of the major cities in Quebec.
“Our accomplishments could serve as inspiration for the ways things are done elsewhere,” added Demers, “while we in Laval will be profiting from the exchanges to add to our expertise.”
Laval well represented
Laval is well represented on the UMQ, with Mayor Demers being a member of the governing board, as well as vice-president of the UMQ’s caucus for major cities.
The mayor also sits along with Laval city councillor Stéphane Boyer on the UMQ’s commission for intelligent cities. In the meantime, Councillor and Laval executive-committee member Sandra Desmeules sits on the UMQ’s committee for its annual assizes.
Set to retire from politics in June when he’ll be stepping down as MP for the riding of Outremont, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says he’s feeling confident about his future on the faculty of one of the country’s leading universities and as the head of an environmental group that organizes Earth Day in Quebec.
In an interview with Newsfirst Multimedia last week, Mulcair – who first entered politics in 1994 as the Liberal MNA for the Laval riding of Chomedey – said he will be teaching political science beginning this summer.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair, seen here in his Outremont constituency office, will be teaching political science at the University of Montreal starting this summer.
New horizons for Mulcair
On Friday last week, the University of Montreal announced that Mulcair is joining their political science faculty as a visiting professor in the newly-created Master’s degree program in environment and sustainable development. Jour de la Terre had previously announced that Mulcair was taking on the leadership of the organization as volunteer board president.
“I can say that I’m in a very good place in my career right now,” said Mulcair. “I’m very satisfied that the number one job that Jack [Layton] and I had set for ourselves we were able to accomplish – which was breaking through in Quebec for the NDP.
Thomas Mulcair running in Chomedey for the Quebec Liberals in 1993.
Proud of NDP’s achievements
“We still have 16 outstanding MPs. And I’ll be leaving at the end of the spring session, but I’m convinced that the party is going to be able to find an excellent candidate to replace me and they’ll be able to take that into the next election and I’m sure that things are going to go well.”
The year 2015, a federal election year, was momentous not only for Mulcair, but for the two other party leaders vying for the country’s top elected position. For the Liberals’ Justin Trudeau, it meant becoming the country’s leader, while for the incumbent Conservatives’ Stephen Harper the election brought about the end of his political career.
June 2006, Betty McLeod of Agape awarding Thomas Mulcair for his continuous support.
A setback for the NDP
As for fate of the NDP, Mulcair said, “We were always very prudent, and I was always very prudent never to get ahead of ourselves. Polls would go up and be in our favour and then they’d go back down. We were convinced we had a good offer on the table.
“And, in any event, we slid back to our third-party position that we’d been in before. But I am proud of the fact that I got the second-highest number of seats in the NDP’s history: 44 seats is the second-highest that we’ve ever had. And it’s second, of course, to the fabulous Orange Wave of 2011.”
A letdown after election
Mulcair said he underwent a period of feeling disenchanted following the election. “You feel a great deal of disappointment that the great ideas we had put forward are not going to come to pass,” he said. “So knowing that Canadians were going to be stuck with the Liberals again, and knowing those Liberals from my 40 years in government, I knew what was going to happen.”
Although he hasn’t been the NDP’s leader since last October when the party’s new leader, Jagmeet Singh, succeeded him, Mulcair remains outspoken in his criticism of Justin Trudeau, whose 2015 sweep set back the NDP and thwarted any ambitions Mulcair might have had to be in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Thomas Mulcair presenting Quebec’s government sustainable development new policies as Minister of Environment.
Still critical of Justin Trudeau
“This is the first sitting Prime Minister in Canadian history to break the law,” said Mulcair, referring to the Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner’s ruling that Trudeau breached the country’s Conflict of Interest Act when he vacationed at the Bahamian home of the Aga Khan.
“Watching Mr. Trudeau be found guilty by the ethics commissioner has an effect on all of us, because it’s a question of ethics. He’s often very flippant when he reacts to that. He tries to pirouette away from it, saying ‘I won’t do it again.’ … A Prime Minister has to show ethics at the highest level. He has to be a model. And Justin Trudeau’s ethics have been shown to be totally lacking.”
Tom’s new book “Strength of Conviction”
A passion for politics
With politics clearly still very much in his blood, Mulcair said it his intention to have his university students benefit from his four decades of political experience as well as his views on future political developments in Quebec and Canada.
“You can be sure that the 40 years of experience I have in government will allow me to inspire them to get involved publicly to make sure that workers’ pensions are protected and the environment is protected for future generations,” he said. “These are all things that I believe in passionately and that won’t change when I leave politics.”
Feb 9 – Laval police are asking for the public’s help in locating 47-year-old Mario Mousseau, who is suspected of at least 8 offences of the same nature. Authorities have connected Mousseau with a string of break-ins that occurred in Laval, and suspect he is still in the area.
He is described as a white male, about 5’8″ tall and 160 pounds.
Laval police are asking for the public’s help in locating 47-year-old Mario Mousseau.
Anyone with information about Mousseau’s whereabouts is asked to contact Laval police via the info-line at 450-662-INFO (4636).
A 69-year-old man was injured after a tractor trailer ran over a car on Highway 440 in Laval Tuesday February 13, morning.
The incident happened around 11 a.m. and ended with the jackknifed trailer on top of a small car, with both vehicles on the median near Curé Labelle Ave.
The driver had to be extricated from the tangled mess and was then rushed to hospital. While his injuries were considered very serious at first, his condition has since improved.
The truck driver was treated for shock.
Police closed all lanes on the westbound highway, and the delays led to two other crashes near Chomedey Blvd. and Highway 15 as drivers tried to exit the highway and avoid a traffic jam.
The cause of the collision is under investigation.
