Feb 17 – What began as an argument in the parking lot between an exotic dancer and a 26-year-old patron of the Salon Bleu strip club could have turned deadly as the man ended up being dragged beneath the woman’s car nearly half a kilometre down Boul. Curé-Labelle.
The verbal altercation was reported to have started at about 3:30 a.m. Whether she hit him with the car first, and how he became entangled up beneath the car, is still a mystery to investigators.
The victim was dragged 400 m before passing motorists noticed the heinous situation and managed to immobilise the woman’s car by blocking it with their own.
According to police, the man was lucky to have suffered only minor injuries, cuts, and burns. He was transported to hospital for treatment and is expected to recover.
The 27-year-old dancer was arrested and questioned. She faces charges of criminal negligence and dangerous driving, as well as possible armed assault charges if the investigation points to deliberate malicious intent on her part.
Police confirmed the dancer was not intoxicated at the time. Investigators will be reviewing video surveillance footage to determine the cause of the incident.
Demers says Ottawa won’t forget cities in 2018 budget
After participating last week in a meeting of the Mayors’ Caucus of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Ottawa, Laval mayor Marc Demers said he feels confident the federal government will be paying attention in its 2018 budget to municipalities’ needs, including social housing, infrastructure, mass transit and the local impact of legalizing marijuana.
Asked about marijuana revenues, Demers said he was confident the provincial government would take its responsibility seriously in seeing that sums which are supposed to be reaching municipal governments will be doing so. At the same time, he noted that the FCM’s next board of directors meeting will be taking place in Laval from March 6 – 9.
Laval mayor Marc Demers said he feels confident the federal government will be paying attention in its 2018 budget to municipalities’ needs.Mayors’ Caucus of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Ottawa
On Sunday Feb. 11, the City of Laval’s elected officials played exhibition hockey matches against students from the Souvenir and Horizon-Jeunesse schools, with Mayor Marc Demers, as well as Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board chairwoman Jennifer Maccarone and Commission scolaire de Laval president Louise Lortie.
“By getting involved in this cause, the city wants to contribute to the development of a feeling of collective responsibility with regards to school perseverance and the importance of pursuing those efforts in order to encourage educational success among Laval’s young people,” said Demers who did the honours dropping the first puck on the ice.
The team from Souvenir Elementary School, along with members of the team from the City of Laval, played a hockey match for school perseverance on Sunday Feb. 11.
Showing support
“This is also a symbolic way to show children and adolescents that their elected representatives are present and that they can on them for support, as well as from the community and their families, to develop their full potential,” added deputy mayor David De Cotis, who has been organizing the event for the past four years.
Laval’s elected officials were put to the test during the two matches, which saw them play against grade five and six students from Souvenir Elementary, who beat the Laval officials by a score of 3 – 1. The second match saw the team from the city play against the Faucons, made up of secondary five students from the CSDL’s École Horizon-Jeunesse. This game proved more exciting and ended with a shootout and a score of 3 – 2 for the Faucons.
The head of the province’s largest association of retail merchants issued a stark warning to cities last week, saying they could end up becoming the biggest losers in the growing shift to online sales when property and business tax revenues bottom out.
“It’s fine to have a retail store, but you have to start thinking at the same time beyond those borders and go on the web,” says Deputy Mayor David De Cotis, who is responsible for the city’s economic dossiers on the executive-committee.
Tax revenue losses
“As I’ve said before and as I say everywhere I go, the first losers in the shift towards the web if they don’t join forces is going to be the cities,” said Léopold Turgeon, president of the Conseil québécois du commerce de détail.
Speaking at the City of Laval’s first annual Forum Innovation Commerce at the Château Royal on Feb. 15, Turgeon pointed out that “the less there are businesses, the less there will be fiscal revenue” for municipal governments.
Go with e-commerce
While most people are aware by now of the impact that web and online marketing are having on the real-world retail landscape, this is the first year that the City of Laval decided to organize a half-day seminar dealing specifically with the problem.
“The new wave in the future is really e-commerce,” Laval executive-committee vice-president David De Cotis, who gave the opening address, said in an interview with the Laval News.
Laval’s deputy-mayor and executive-committee vice-president David De Cotis (from row, third from right) is seen here with city officials and guest speakers during the first annual Innovation Commerce held at the Château Royal last week.
Get on the web
“In order to succeed, they will have to become increasingly aware of the e-commerce concept, get on the web and to do business on the web as well,” he added. “It’s fine to have a retail store, but you have to start thinking at the same time beyond those borders and go on the web.”
According to De Cotis, there are 38,000 small and medium-size businesses in Laval, “and we want to encourage them all to have an online presence,” he said. De Cotis was asked by the Laval News about the extent to which online retailing is affecting the retail presence in Laval.
Small business suffers
“It’s not only affecting Laval, it’s also affecting the greater Montreal region,” he said. “The Amazons and the Alibabas of this world are taking, like it or not, business away from small business entrepreneurs whether it’s in Laval or Montreal and so forth. And, you know, when there are empty businesses there is less employment. And that’s why we want to encourage as much as possible our businesses to stay in business and employ people while being successful at what they’re doing.”
In his speech, De Cotis noted that retailing and wholesaling today account for a quarter of all jobs in the Laval region. Last year, that number equalled 38,292 jobs. Many of these are in key locations throughout Laval, such as the Carrefour Laval, the Centre Laval or any of the eight other major retail malls on the territory. In addition, there are many hundreds of other retail hubs all over Laval.
The need to go digital
In 2016, there were 1,669 retail businesses in Laval, he continued, and 830 wholesale enterprises. He pointed out that from this perspective, Laval is increasingly a magnet for businesses of this type seeking to set up in proximity to the Montreal region’s international airport (which is only a short distance from Laval).
“As deputy mayor and being responsible for economic dossiers with the City of Laval, I can only insist on the importance, even the urgency, of doing digital,” said De Cotis. “The numbers demonstrate it clearly.”
Consumers headed online
While studies suggest that the retail sector is holding up on its own, De Cotis noted that they also indicate that more and more consumers are buying online, and these are local economic losses which are going to the advantage of major online retailers such as Amazon and Alibaba.
“There is no question of giving up,” he continued. “To the contrary, we must face up to this challenge with confidence and by rallying four forces. We are convinced that the capacity to adapt and to innovate by the players involved in commerce in Laval and their partners will make all the difference.”
City Council authorized the acquisition of part of a lot (owned by Gestion Gilles Laurence) of approximately 28,468.4 square meters. This parcel of land has been evaluated at $2,992,144.04. In exchange part of a lot with an area of approximately 10,436.1 square meters and a municipal evaluation of $ 1,554,978.90 as well as an offer of $1,437,166.14 cash will go to the vendor. The land acquired by the City will allow for the creation of Cousteau Park. City council also voted to increase the Green Space Land Acquisition Program for 2018 included in the three-year capital program to from $1,800,000 to $3,450,000. This program allows the municipality to purchase lands with which they can develop environmentally friendly projects that will add to the city’s inventory of outdoor environments for the use of Laval’s residents.
Support to the Laval Chamber of Commerce and Industry
As part of the 2015-2018 triennial agreement between the Laval Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIL) and the City of Laval, the municipal administration has pledged financial support to this organization (CCIL) in the amount of $ 250,000 annually. An annual rent subsidy of $ 37,000 is also part of the addenda adopted over three years which also modifies and brings clarity to the terms of the agreement between the two parties. City Council also received a report of the CCIL’s activity for the period from September 1, 2016 to August 31, 2017 and as a result authorized the payment of the grants provided for in the agreement for the third year of the agreement.
Floods: no fees for permits and certificates until December 2018
As the result of the exceptional spring floods affecting the Ottawa, Prairie and Mile River rivers on May 19th 2017 and the ensuing damage to property that resulted Laval’s municipal administration took steps to ease the financial and technical obstacles affecting owners. The Executive Committee passed a resolution providing among other things, that no tariff be imposed on the issuance of permits and certificates prior to any renovation, repair, demolition, reconstruction or connection to municipal services necessary for the repair of damaged buildings, provided that the complete applications to this effect have been filed with the appropriate municipal department before December 15th 2017. However, in order to harmonize the City’s rules with the Government of Quebec’s decree, which will be in effect until December 19th 2018, the Executive Committee has agreed to amend the original resolution to extend the date for depositing applications from December 15th 2017 to December 19th 2018.
Authorization to allow U-Turns on Robert-Bourassa Boulevard
On the recommendation of Laval’s Police Service, the Executive Committee accepted to rescind the order to not allow vehicular traffic in the area to execute u-turns. Therefor the public works service was mandated to remove existing road signs on Robert-Bourassa Boulevard prohibiting this activity. This modification will not only facilitate access to businesses in the area but will also reduce the increased transit traffic through the local area parking lots.
Seniors-Friendly Municipality Committee (MADA)
The Executive Committee has forwarded a recommendation for city council ratification appointing Gilbert Dumas and Christiane Yoakim both city councilors as members of the MADA Partners Committee for a three-year term. Laval received its MADA (MUNICIPALITÉ AMIE DES AÎNÉS) accreditation in 2014. This program aims to recognize municipalities that adapt their services and structures to the needs of seniors. These adaptations make it possible to counter the discrimination that seniors may experience in terms of housing, recreation, urban development, transportation and safety, while highlighting the full potential of these people. The MADA Partners Committee has been set up to ensure the preparation of the action plan addressing issues in Laval and the monitoring of its implementation.
Renewal of the agreement for football activities
Since 1998 the City of Laval has had an agreement with the Regroupement du sport in Laval and the Laval Regional Football Association concerning the transfer of certain responsibilities fro the organization and execution of a football program and activities in Laval. This partnership allows for efficient and simplified management of schedules, the hiring and management of required on field and off field officials as well as the annual registrations for the diverse activities. The City of Laval has agreed to renew this long standing agreement. A maximum of $26,229 in financial support will be granted to the organization for the realization of football activities in Laval for the year 2018.
Hiring an expert consultant in library construction
The Executive Committee has authorized the hiring of an expert library construction consultant to assist the City in identifying and refining the functional requirements for the future central library.
Managing the operations of Laval’s Maison des Art
The Corporation of the Salle André Mathieu ([co] motion) will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the Maison des Arts (MDA) in Laval and the specialized equipment park. The corporation will be reimbursed a maximum amount of $ 901,111.96 (taxes included) for these services. The service offer includes the administrative management of the day-to-day operations related to mobile specialized equipment, the administrative management covering the various aspects of operation, management and animation of MDA programs and the permanent staff dedicated to operations and maintenance and programming of the Maison des Art.
This issue 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.
Mary Kay Cosmetics, a company that has become famous for (among other things) awarding pink Cadillacs to high performing sales representatives, presented its latest “Trophy on Wheels” last week to a Lorraine woman who is one of the U.S.-based cosmetics firm’s top Canadian performers.
Although it was the seventh time that independent national sales director for Mary Kay Caroline Sarrouf won the honour, it was just her second time winning the right to use a customized pink Mary Kay Cadillac Escalade for a leased time period.
Caroline Sarrouf (seen through the roof hatch of the Mary Kay Cadillac Escalade) was presented with the keys to the vehicle on Feb. 14 at Cadillac Laval.
Trophy on Wheels
As part of the deal, Mary Kay Cosmetics leases the high-end vehicles from GM. In this case, a representative of Cadillac Laval on Chomedey Blvd. had the honour of handing the Escalade’s keys to Sarrouf.
For opulence and comfort, Sarrouf’s new Escalade is virtually unequalled by most other vehicles. With a retail value somewhere in the $100,000 range, it will offer a lot of room for her family, consisting of her husband and three daughters.
Choose your Cadillac
Left, Caroline Pelletier, director of new vehicle sales at Cadillac Laval, hands the keys to the Cadillac Escalade to Mary Kay independent national sales director Caroline Sarrouf.
“When you first earn this as a national sales director, you do keep it for three years,” she said in an interview with the Laval News. “So once reach you this level, you get to choose whatever Cadillac you want, and this was my choice – the top one. And every three years they will change it for me.”
Caroline Pelletier, Cadillac Laval’s director of new vehicle sales, said the dealership always considers it an honour to be able to officiate when Mary Kay awards a Cadillac. For her, it was a special honour to hand over the keys to Sarrouf.
A Mary Kay tradition
The Mary Kay Cadillac tradition dates back to the late 1960s when company founder, Mary Kay Ash, purchased the first pink Cadillac from a Dallas dealership, where it was repainted to match the “Mountain Laurel Blush” in a powder compact she carried. In the following years, Ash began rewarding the company’s top salespeople with similarly painted Cadillacs and the tradition continues.
For her part, Caroline Sarrouf first signed a Beauty Consultant Agreement with Mary Kay in February 2008. She then started her ascent on the career path when she debuted as an Independent Sales Director in January 2009. She represented her team in the company’s Circle of Achievement twice. She debuted as an Independent National Sales Director in December 2013, beating the Canadian record.
The members of Laval city council voted unanimously on Feb. 7 to adopt a new by-law containing a code of ethics and professional conduct. According to provincial law, every municipality is expected to have such a by-law on its books by March 1.
“This is a good habit that the legislators have just added to our political ways of doing things and which adds to the various other gestures meant to guarantee our commitments for integrity, transparency and probity towards our citizens,” said Mayor Marc Demers.
Laval adopts new code of professional ethics
Declaring gratuities
Prior to the adoption of the new code of ethics, the city’s Bureau d’intégrité et d’éthique de Laval (BIEL) carried out an analysis of Laval’s existing ethics controls and measures and proposed modifications.
As an example of what sort of thing will now have to be reported under the new ethics regulations, any city official who receives a gratuity or gift worth more than $100 will now have to file a written declaration with the City of Laval’s public clerk’s office.
“The principal modification we are bringing to this is that the code will henceforth apply to political employees in addition to the elected officials,” added the mayor. “We are in fact going further than we are legally obliged to and on this we have been unanimous.”
Right direction: Opposition
“Despite the fact that these control mechanisms applying this new code don’t apply legally to the political employees of the offices of the mayor or of the opposition, were are today taking a step in the right direction,” said Fabreville city councillor Claude Larochelle, the sole member of the official opposition.
“It was necessary to adopt this new code of ethics and professional conduct with unanimity and with a spirit of consensus,” added Chomedey city councillor Aglaia Revelakis. “I am very happy to have had the opportunity to add to this new code with my experiences and ideas, in order to better serve the citizens of Laval and Chomedey.”
Senator Leo Housakos is taking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to task over some recent comments Trudeau made that compared the experience of Canadian immigrants to ISIS pro-Islamic militants returning to Canada after taking part abroad in terrorist activities.
Troubling response
Following an exchange on the matter in the Senate in Ottawa on Feb. 7, Senator Housakos said he felt “very troubled” by the response given by the Leader of the Government in the Upper Chamber, Senator Peter Harder.
Sen. Housakos said he thought it was his responsibility “on behalf of Canada’s Hellenic community, to ask Mr. Trudeau’s Government Leader in the Senate for clarification of the Prime Minister’s comparison.”
A curious comparison
“At a town hall meeting in Edmonton last week, Prime Minister Trudeau was asked a question from a member of the audience who raised concern about ISIS fighters returning to Canada and the long-term impact of their terrorist ideology on our country’s safety and security,” said Housakos.
“The Prime Minister responded by comparing returning ISIS fighters — responsible for beheadings, burning people alive, sexual slavery, throwing men over rooftop buildings because they are gay, just to name a few of their atrocities — with immigrants historically welcomed to Canada from countries such as Greece, Italy and Portugal.
The immigrant experience
“I come from a cradle of that community,” he continued. “My parents both immigrated to this country in the 1950s, and they were outraged to hear that from the Prime Minister. These are the individuals in the Greek, Italian and Portuguese community in Montreal that came here understanding they were coming to a Commonwealth country, to a great democracy, a country that respects human rights and the rule of law.
“They also understood — and I can tell you my parents always made it clear to me — that Canadian citizenship came with tremendous privileges, but it also has responsibilities. How does the Prime Minister possibly justify making this comparison, equating legal immigrants and those fleeing persecution with the return to Canada of individuals who are complicit in the horrific crimes perpetrated by our enemy, ISIS?”
Senator defended the PM
Sen. Harder responded: “Let me simply reiterate, and I do this as myself, the son of immigrant refugees to Canada, that I share and understand deeply the pride with which your parents inculcated the values of citizenship in you, as most immigrants have with their children and their children’s children. I didn’t see the interaction to which you refer, but I can only remind senators that this Prime Minister has consistently spoken well of Canada’s immigrant history and the accommodation and diversity of our immigration process that has allowed Canada to become the country it is today.
“At the same time, while individual immigrants and citizens have responsibilities, we collectively have a responsibility to our citizens, even those we would disagree with because of actions that they have taken with the rights they hold as citizens. We have to be vigilant in our programming to ensure that we do everything possible to protect the safety and security of Canada in the face of those who return to Canada after having indulged in the practices to which the honorable senator referred.”
Says PM’s ‘all over the map’
In an interview with Newsfirst Multimedia, Sen. Housakos described Prime Minister Trudeau lately as being “all over the map with some of his mis-speaks.” However, with regards to Trudeau’s comparison between immigrants and ISIS he said a few people in Montreal’s Greek community “expressed their complete hurt feelings on this issue to me – and legitimately so.
“When the Prime Minister is asked a question by a Canadian citizen at a town hall about repatriating Canadian citizens that have gone off and left the confines of this secure nation to go and support ISIS – our enemy – half way around the world, an organization that is extremist, and which has as its mandate to destroy our western democratic structure, and they’re hellbent on destroying and killing moderate Muslims in the Middle East and Christians driven out of places like Syria, they certainly don’t have respect for the pluralistic multicultural multi-faith society that we have here in Canada.”
Public health officials in Laval are warning the public about innocent-looking stamps laced with a potentially deadly drug. The stamps contain carfentanil, a more potent form of fentanyl, which itself is a very powerful pain medication.
Carfentanil is 100 times stronger than fentanyl and 1,000 times stronger than a dose of morphine.
Sunrise Detox produced this ad in New Jersey.
The synthetic opioid had been placed on blotting paper, which is designed to be placed on the tongue in order to get high.
Health officials say the drug could also be absorbed through the skin.
Carfentanil is so powerful and so quick-acting that it can easily lead to unconsciousness and death because an individual stops breathing. Officials say users may also not realize what they are taking and may think they are using something else.
An anti-Carfentanil ad produced by an addiction center in Canada.
“We want to let people know that this exists, that if you are in the entourage of somebody that uses drugs it can be dangerous just by touching the different types of drugs that this person may use,” said Evelyne Boudreau of the Laval police department.
“People must know about it. The consumers must also know that maybe if they think they’re buying LSD it may not be the case.”
Last month, two people, considered casual drug users, died after using cocaine laced with fentanyl.
Carfentanil is one hundred times more potent than fentanyl, says an addiction expert.
This appears to be the first time fentanyl has appeared on paper blotters in the Montreal area – though it is not a first in Canada. Last year, Winnipeg police seized six blotters laced with carfentanil that may have been designed to look like children’s tattoos.
“It is not for human use, it’s like morphine but for elephants,” said Boudreau.
The drug-laced blotting paper was found in the home of a 59-year-old Laval man who was unconscious, which prompted a resident to call 9-1-1.
Other pain medications were found in the home, and police suspect they were purchased online.
The stamps found in Laval portray a man riding a bicycle on a green and red background.
Anyone who spots them should not pick them up: they’re being urged to call 9-1-1.
People can also call Laval police at 450-662-4636 (INFO) or leave an anonymous tip at Info Crime.
