This issue covers local events such us politics, sports and human interest stories. It features editorials and other columns. Click on the image to read the paper.
Comparing Action Laval leader Jean-Claude Gobé’s recent pledge to reduce property taxes by 3 per cent with U.S. president Donald Trump’s habit of distorting facts, Laval mayor Marc Demers is dismissing Gobé’s campaign promise as a short-sighted attempt to win votes in the Nov. 5 municipal election.
ML incumbents are back
Demers made the comparison last week during a press conference held by his party, the incumbent Mouvement Lavallois, to announce candidates in eastern Laval districts.
While ML incumbents are running again in Saint-Vincent-de-Paul (Paolo Galati), Val-des-Arbres (Christiane Yoakim), Duvernay-Pont Viau (Stéphane Boyer), Vimont (Michel Poissant), Saint-Bruno (David De Cotis) and Auteuil (Jocelyne Frédéric-Gauthier), a newcomer, Éric Morasse, is running for the ML in Saint-François.
Gobé pledged 3 per cent cut
While announcing Action Laval’s campaign promises last week, Gobé stated that Demers “has raised taxes by 6.5 per cent over the past few years. Laval residents are out of breath. I am announcing a 3.0 per cent decrease in property taxes in the first budget of my term as mayor of Laval.”
At the ML’s press conference the following day, Demers reacted this way. “He (Gobé) didn’t mention anything about the impact of doing so, so he’s buying a car without knowing what the price is. So I don’t think it’s possible. And if he ever gets elected, I don’t think it will be possible. And if it is it’s going to be at the cost of many, many sacrifices.
Keeping balanced, says Demers
“One thing you have to keep in mind,” Demers continued, “is to keep the proper balance between your finances, obligations and things you have to pay. Otherwise Standard & Poors will not give you a good credit rating. And if you don’t have a good credit rating the interest will go up. The City of Laval has long-term debt on which we don’t want the interest rate to go up.”
Regarding Gobé’s claim the ML raised taxes 6.5 per cent, Demers acknowledged it, but pointed out that the increase was spread over four years. He said the average over that period actually comes out to 1.62 per cent, “which is lower than any major city in Quebec.”
Incumbent Laval mayor Marc Demers maintains that the average property tax increase for residences over the past four years was 1.62 per cent, and not 6.5 per cent as claimed by Action Laval leader Jean-Claude Gobé.
Marked increase one year
Demers noted that the City of Montreal raised its property taxes an average 2 per cent, not including local increases by the boroughs. But he also admitted that during one exceptional year during the ML’s term, the ML administration took the extraordinary measure of raising property taxes by 3.2 per cent because the Quebec government had stopped payment of a multimillion dollar subsidy while retaliating in a dispute with Laval.
“And one other thing,” added Demers. “In 2013 – it wasn’t because of us – but the residential taxes were frozen. So in 2014 the taxes were frozen, and that had consequences. So that was two years in a row. It was not our doing in 2013, but we have to live with the consequences.”
Residential taxes frozen
According to the city’s budget for 2013, most single-family home owners in Laval were not called upon to pay higher taxes for the following year, although other residential property owners would see increases at around the prevailing two per cent rate of inflation.
In the 2013 budget which was tabled by newly-installed mayor Alexandre Duplessis following the departure of former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt, nearly 55 per cent of residential property owners would see their taxes frozen or reduced.
More than 700 devoted followers of the Mouvement Lavallois turned out at the Embassy Plaza on Aug. 28 to help launch the 2017 election campaign of the man credited as the party’s founder – David De Cotis.
While a Laval-area Liberal MNA came out recently to support another municipal party’s mayoralty candidate, De Cotis (who is Laval’s executive-committee vice-president as well as the councillor for Saint-Bruno) has the backing of Vimont Liberal MNA Jean Rousselle.
MNA supports De Cotis
“I am here this evening because there are lots of people who are going to say ‘You’re taking sides,’” Rousselle said. “Yes I am taking sides. I will normally not get involved in municipal politics – except this evening. Why? Because I am with David De Cotis and I will explain to you why. I am doing this not as an MNA but personally.”
Rousselle recounted knowing De Cotis since the summer of 2007, which was two years before the 2009 Laval city election. “It’s a guy who takes to heart what he does,” he said. “What he does he does from the heart and he does it for the people.”
Incumbent mayor Marc Demers said he had “always been impressed by David De Cotis, but his capacity to bring people together is phenomenal and we see the proof of it here this evening. It’s not easy for a politician to draw and bring people together for such a large gathering.” According to Demers, De Cotis talked him into becoming the ML’s 2013 mayoralty candidate.
Mouvement Lavallois founder David De Cotis, right, gets a standing ovation during the launch of his campaign to be re-elected city councillor for the district of Saint-Bruno.
Praise from the mayor
“He was one of the first citizens to stand up and say enough is enough, things have to change,” he added regarding De Cotis’s first attempts as far back as 2007 to dethrone Laval’s long-reigning former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt. “He had the courage and the persistence to denounce the practices during that era. He fought against the established power. You must remember that it wasn’t easy at the time.”
Demers compared the financial standings of the ML to Vaillancourt’s Parti PRO back then, which were $9,000 for the former and $1.2 million for the latter respectively (not including what the Parti PRO was hiding elsewhere.) “If you have a difficult mission and you’re not sure you can win, the person you want on your team is David,” said Demers.
“David is someone courageous and determined. Laval owes him a lot. Those who know him are not surprised. David is a hard worker. He doesn’t count his hours. David is someone filled with passion who devotes all his energy to his political commitment – which is rare. He isn’t in politics for power or prestige. If that were the case he wouldn’t have spent years fighting against the most powerful mayor of the era.”
Mayor Marc Demers and Laval executive-committee vice-president David De Cotis, who is running for re-election in Saint-Bruno.
Loving wife’s support
De Cotis’s wife, Isabelle Piché, who assisted her husband during the Mouvement Lavallois’s early days, maintained that the party’s name was inspired by a TV commercial for a major Canadian retail chain. “But I can tell you it hasn’t been easy being the wife of the leader of a new political party,” she said, noting she spent many an evening dining alone while her husband was busy assisting the party.
Lise Lalande, executive-director of the Société Alzheimer Laval, said De Cotis, the councillor for the district of Saint-Bruno who is also vice-president of Laval’s executive-committee, responded immediately when the Société Alzheimer asked for help nearly four years ago.
“David is a person of action and is very devoted, generous and transparent,” she said. “As a municipal councillor, he also likes to improve life in his district, while creating opportunities to bring people together in the community.”
De Cotis’s wife, Isabelle Piché, spoke of the sacrifices involved in being the spouse of a leader in a political party.
Alzheimer Society
As an example, she referred to De Cotis’s creation of the Fête de Quartier de Saint-Bruno, from which the proceeds have been donated annually over the past few years to the Société Alzheimer. “On behalf of all those we help, we thank David for his commitment, which also attests to his compassion,” she said. “Thank you David for helping us to spread hope and the Société Alzheimer supports your candidacy.”
For his own part, De Cotis said that when he looks back on the first days of the Mouvement Lavallois, “it started from nothing but has gone far. I see Laval as a city that is developing in the present, but also in context to the future.” He said he was inviting the population of Laval to give the ML another mandate so that it can pursue the work started in 2013.
(TLN) On Sept. 5, Laval city council adopted By-law L-12519, concerning rights to housing. According to the city, this new legal tool will henceforth be protecting tenants as well as landlords in Laval from circumstances impeding access to safe and secure dwellings.
The new housing code will allow the City of Laval to intervene and demand renovations or repairs in cases where a dwelling, without necessarily being unsanitary, needs work on things such as broken windows, no hot water, inadequate heating, etc. The coming into effect of the regulations is set for March 1, 2018 so that various municipal services can prepare to enforce it.
Long overdue, says mayor
“The housing code was long awaited by citizens and organizations who concern themselves with housing,” says Mayor Marc Demers. “This tool will allow us in a more proactive way to intervene in order to allow all residents to live in housing that is safe and secure.”
The new code will make it possible to do the following things: forbid landlords or tenants to do anything that causes sanitation problems, such as allowing mould to take hold, or not doing anything about pests such as cockroaches or other parasitical insects; establish rules making it mandatory to declare when there are or have been bedbugs in a dwelling. There are other measures, as well.
Investment of $ 6.1 million for work on 100th Avenue and Cléroux Boulevard
Members of the Executive Committee have awarded a contract of $ 6,162,569.40 (taxes included) to Duroking Construction for the initial construction phase of the 100th Avenue extension to Cléroux Boulevard, completing its extension to the Autoroute Jean-Noel-Lavoie (440). The budget involves the building of the sewer, water, drainage road systems as well as preliminary street infrastructures. The finished 100th Avenue will join Charles-Haeck Street to Cléroux Boulevard and will also involve renovations and expansion of the existing stretch of the 100th Avenue from Cléroux Boulevard to the AutoRoute 440 in the same area.
Construction of Fire Station No. 5 in Saint-François
The Executive Committee will recommend that City Council award the construction contract for a new fire station which will be built in Saint-François. This contract has been awarded to the Consortium MR Canada with an estimated budget of $ 7,757,000. The professional management service contract to oversee and supervise the construction work will be entrusted to Viau Bastien Gosselin Architectes at a cost of $ 324,504.49 (including taxes). Philippe Hudon (Simulead) will be commissioned to oversee planning to bring the station on line during the construction and post-construction phase for $ 10,922.63 (including the taxes). The new building will be equipped with five garage doors and will include offices in addition to living areas for nine firefighters, four officers and one trainee.
New agreement to encourage the start-up of collective enterprises
An agreement to consolidate the efforts between the city of Laval, the Pôle régional d’économie sociale de Laval (PRESL-Laval’s regional social economy development agency) and the Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins for the Young Collective Enterprises program was approved by the Executive Committee. Thanks to this agreement, a new social economy company in Laval will receive a $ 3,000 grant from the Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins, conditional that its project is also approved a grant from the City’s Social Economy Fund for a minimum amount of $ 10,000 as well as qualify for a loan from a financial partner in the social economy development for a minimum amount of $ 10,000. The startup company will need to become a member of the PRESL and the Caisse d’économie solidaire. This agreement does not require any additional financial contribution from the City of Laval as its contribution is made through its social economy development fund.
Professional Services for Strategic Intelligence and Information Technology
Members of the Executive Committee have awarded Gartner Canada Co. a contract to renew the 2018 subscription to the firm’s strategic intelligence and information technology professional services. This subscription provides agents of Laval’s Innovation and Technology Service access to anonymous databases which are continuously updated and incorporate vital statistics of various business operations provided by Gartner customers. In return, these customers can compare themselves to their competitors or to the market at large as costs, efficiencies and return on investments data is collected and processed.
Gartner also provides a software suite called Decision Tools that can measure the overall impact of innovation and return on investment of different projects and planning decisions. The City of Laval had already obtained authorization from the Quebec Shared Services Center to join the agreement with Gartner.
Community Tree Planting
The Executive Committee reviewed and approved various community tree planting projects for the fall of 2017. The projects involve collaboration with the following organizations: Équerre Wood Development Corporation, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Éco-Nature, Collège Montmorency, Collège Citoyen, École Jean-Lemonde, Corporation du Center du Sablon and the Association for the Conservation of the Papineau Woods. In review it is expected that these autumn projects will result in the planting of 53 trees with a minimum height of two meters as well as three hundred and sixty shrubs.
In the spring of 2017 twelve planting projects were completed which added a total of 2625 trees and 60 shrubs to Laval’s horticultural inventory. This greenery was planted in both natural and urban environments. The City’s involvement consists in coordinating the work and providing the raw materials including trees and shrubs, compost and chips from the municipal composting site as well as other planting material. The organizations provide the desire, vision and human resources required to make the city more ecologically friendly.
Almost $ 23,000 in grants to two organizations
The members of the Executive Committee awarded grants totaling $ 22,960 to two Laval organizations. The Carrefour d’intercultures de Laval was awarded $ 7,960 for the Camps d’intégration socio-culturelle project. This project facilitated the social and educational integration of newly arrived immigrant children attending welcome and integration classes. Three of the City of Laval’s day camp centers welcomed the selected children, including two sites in the Chomedey district and one in the Pont-Viau / Laval-des-Rapides district.
The Regroupement du sport in Laval was awarded a $ 15,000 grant for the enhancement of the Excellence Sports Laval program, which aims to promote the development of elite-level Laval athletes of Laval. This not for profit organization offers athletes who compete on a national and international level access to various professional services including mental and physical preparation, nutritional counselling as well as physiotherapeutic services.
Collection of Hazardous Household Waste (HHW)
On Saturday September 16th from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm the city will once again provide residents the opportunity to discard hazardous household waste collecting in their homes and garages in a responsible ecologically friendly manner.
Citizens are invited to bring their old cans of paint, computer equipment, oils and solvents, medicines and other household hazardous waste (HHW). This service is provided exclusively and is reserved for Laval residents therefore it is compulsory to provide proof of residency. Companies and general contractors are not eligible. The waste must be properly crated in cardboard boxes. No containers will be emptied on the site or materials transferred. Liquid waste including motor oils must be dropped of in disposable containers.
For the complete list of accepted materials and how to prepare domestic waste for this collection and the volume of waste that will be accepted, residents are invited to consult the Hazardous Domestic Waste – HHW site on Laval’s website. The location of the collection is at the parking lot of the municipal building located at 1333 Chomedey Boulevard.
During Laval city council’s Sept. 5 public meeting, Nicolas Liounis, a Chomedey resident for the past quarter-century and local pharmacy owner, deposited a petition with almost 3,000 signatures requesting a residence for senior citizens and medical/daycentre for the Chomedey area.
Want seniors residence
“We are asking for a meeting with you, mister mayor, in order to work out our project, said Liounis who was accompanied by a few supporters. He said the City of Laval’s support would be essential for a request to be made to higher levels of government.
“Councillors De Cotis, Borne, Karidogiannis and Mme Dib have already informed of our project,” added Liounis. “We are counting on a positive answer from you and we thank you mister mayor as well as all the members of the municipal council.”
City supports them
Mayor Marc Demers responded that he had just received a letter with their request. “We are in favour of this residential project for senior citizens with special health care,” he said. However, Demers added, the site they chose is currently zoned industrial and might not be appropriate for the purpose since it is in an industrial area and near an autoroute where there might be excessive noise from passing traffic.
“These are the two issues I am raising with you,” said Demers, while adding that he was inviting the project leaders to meet with the City of Laval’s economic development officials who might be able to help find the most appropriate location for the project. “And, yes, this is the kind of project we support, depending of course on its conforming to zoning and other regulations of the city.”
Nicolas Liounis (far right), a Chomedey resident for the past quarter-century and local pharmacy owner, addresses the mayor during the Sept. 5 meeting of city council.
Place Bell added costs
During the meeting’s question period for citizens, Samir Boulos of Chomedey questioned Mayor Demers about the cost of Place Bell becoming inflated to a figure approaching $200 million.
Demers explained that when the current administration inherited responsibility for the Place Bell project four years ago, the initial cost had been estimated at around $153 million.
However, as the previous administration had underestimated parking needs, additional parking had to be added, said Demers, while more funding was also needed to implement commercial zoning around the Place Bell site.
Demers explains costs
“What I can tell you is that the cost will be less than $200 million,” said Demers. “And right now we’re quite under it, but there’s still bills coming in, negotiations to conclude. And as soon as everything is done it will be made public.”
According to the mayor, Laval’s cost will actually be $122 million (factoring in subsidies from other levels of government), “and we own the place one hundred percent,” Demers continued.
“Basically we did a very good deal. But most of all, this place was needed by our children and our families, our sporting associations. That’s why we went along with it.”
Laval mayor Marc Demers responds to questions during the Sept. 5 city council meeting.
Limousine parking problem
Also during question period, Abdul Sater Milad, a Laval-based limousine service operator, complained that he had been subjected lately to visits from a regional limousine inspector telling Milad he had no right to park the vehicle on his own property.
The reason for this, he was told, is that the maximum length of a limousine is 16 feet 6 inches, while a new SUV he recently purchased is 17 feet long. When he decided to get around this rule by parking on the street, he learned that a City of Laval regulation forbids the parking of taxis or limousines on public streets.
Very persistent inspector
There was laughter in the council chamber as Milad went on to explain that when he finally decided to park the vehicle in his garage, the inspector said: “We’ll check to see if you have the right to park inside.”
He continued, “It’s actually not funny. I have a wife and three children,” while adding that he also has a few hundred thousand dollars in debt owing on his house and a hundred thousand in debt owing for his fleet of limousines.
The mayor said that this type of problem usually comes up when someone living nearby files a complaint and that when there are municipal regulations in place there is often no choice but to enforce them. He said he would look further into the matter and follow up.
This issue covers local events such us politics, sports and human interest stories. It features editorials and other columns. Click on the image to read the paper.
This issue covers local events such us politics, sports and human interest stories. It features editorials and other columns Add Image: Click on the image to read the paper.
The Bank of Canada moved ahead with another interest rate hike raising the benchmark rate to 1% in anticipation to the country’s surging economy. Further tightening may be curbed by a rising currency and sluggish price pressures.
