Martin C. Barry

Cabinet officials from the Canadian and Quebec governments were on hand at Société de Transport de Laval headquarters on Aug. 8 to announce a $30.4 million subsidy they have agreed to grant the STL to fund nearly 30 public transit improvement projects.

Supporting public transit

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

Montreal-area Liberal MP Marc Miller, who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and Mille-Îles MNA Francine Charbonneau, the Quebec Liberal minister responsible for the Laval region, announced the investment which is being paid out of the mutually-administered Public Transit Infrastructure Fund.

Three-way funding

According to terms of the subsidy, the federal government will invest more than $16.9 million in the STL’s projects, while Quebec will contribute more than $13.5 million. The STL will provide the remaining funding.

The projects include the purchase by the STL of 22 hybrid buses, garage refurbishments and expansions, the installation of charging stations on hybrid buses, and the addition and replacement of STL bus shelters. As well, Studies will be conducted on preferential measures to improve bus services and address mobility issues.

Once completed, according to the STL and government officials, the projects will make the Laval public transit system more reliable, efficient and inclusive, thereby meeting the community’s immediate needs while preparing well-ahead of time for anticipated increases in ridership in the future.

Promoting Laval’s growth

“The Government of Canada is investing in projects that contribute to building sustainable communities, while promoting economic development and the growth of the middle class,” Miller said during a briefing for the media held in the STL’s main garage. “The many public transit projects announced today will help improve commute times, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the overall user experience, thereby also preparing the city of Laval for future growth,” he added.

“The Government of Quebec’s investment, together with that of the Government of Canada and the Société de transport de Laval, will greatly improve transit fluidity and user experience,” said Charbonneau. “These projects will contribute to Laval’s economic growth while improving air quality and residents’ quality of life. These environmentally responsible alternatives to automobile travel will make Laval an ideal choice for families and workers seeking a modern, sustainable and safe lifestyle.”

Improvements foreseen

“We are very pleased that the governments of Canada and Quebec are attaching such importance to public transit,” said STL president David De Cotis who is also vice-president of the City of Laval’s executive-committee and deputy mayor. “This nearly $ 33.5-million investment marks another step for the Société de transport de Laval in achieving its targets for greenhouse gas reductions and increased ridership.

“The projects to be realized through this Public Transit Infrastructure Fund allocation will enable the Société to improve its customer service, modernize and expand its infrastructure and update its management tools,” continued De Cotis. “In the end, the organization will improve its business practices and provide an even more competitive, modern and efficient transportation network.”

Canada/Quebec funding

The money being allocated to the STL is part of a more than $180 billion infrastructure fund set up by Ottawa to be doled out over 12 years for public transit, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, transportation supporting trade and Canada’s rural and northern communities.

As well, over the next 10 years the government of Quebec plans to invest more than $91.1 billion from the province’s own infrastructure plan in health, education and transportation, in order to provide support to families while stimulating conditions conducive to innovation and economic growth.

Martin C. Barry

Action Laval, the official opposition party in Laval city council, was heavily criticized during the Aug. 8 council meeting by partisans of the governing Mouvement Lavallois as well as the Parti Laval, which is the “unofficial” opposition.

Abuse alleged

Both parties allege that over the last few council meetings, Action Laval has been abusing the right of citizens to ask questions during question period by systematically sending Action Laval election candidates to the microphone, cutting into the amount of question period time available for regular residents.

According to Parti Laval leader Michel Trottier, Action Laval “monopolized 25 of the 90 minutes available to citizens once a month,” he said during the council members’ period for making statements. “So I would just like to say that it would be important to respect that period reserved for citizens 90 minutes each month. It’s a question of respect. That’s all.”

Mayor deflects criticism

Despite the admonitions, again this month a succession of Action Laval candidates came up to the microphone to raise questions on a variety of issues. The party’s leader, Jean-Claude Gobé, was among the first people to come up to the microphone.

After criticizing Mayor Marc Demers for his “lack of influence and lack of credibility with the provincial government” in a number of dossiers, Demers fired back with both barrels.

“With comments like that, it seems very apparent that the electoral campaign time is approaching,” said the mayor, while maintaining that over the past few council meetings, Gobé spent his time at the microphone talking, but without asking very specific questions.

Party reacts to criticism

In a statement Action Laval issued following the council meeting, the party defended its tactics, claiming the mayor “bullies the candidates of Action Laval,” while questioning Action Laval’s motives for asking questions.

“Tonight, at City Council meeting, Mayor Demers and Independent Councilor Michel Trottier criticized Laval residents for asking questions at the city council on the pretext that they are also candidates for the upcoming election,” said the opposition party, while adding that Gobé “rejects Demers’ antidemocratic reaction.”

“Marc Demers used his role as mayor to ridicule his opponents,” said Gobé. “It is totally inappropriate for the institution of the Mayor’s office to reproach members of an opposing party for addressing the municipal council during its sittings.”

Says ML also asked questions

Gobé and other members of his party also pointed out that the ML itself, including Demers, were asking questions at Laval city council meetings since at least 2009 – four years before they were voted into power. “Either the mayor has a very short memory, or he is of extreme bad faith,” added the opposition party’s leader.

A large chunk of time during question period was taken up by homeowners of an area in western Laval near Jolibourg Park in the district of Laval-les-Îles. They are up in arms over the City of Laval’s decision to install several large construction trailers and to asphalt a previously grassed-over area in the park for the next two years in order to facilitate the reconstruction of bridges serving Île Pariseau, Île Bigras and Île Verte.

Maintaining that neither he nor anyone else on city council was informed by the bureaucracy of what was going on, Mayor Demers denied one of the residents’ claims that he refused to visit the site.

Jolibourg Park controversy

“It seemed to me it would be better to get some answers first before proceeding,” he said. While insisting that the integrity of the park is important, Demers went on to say that “we have the challenge of having to build four bridges – two temporary and two permanent.”

And pursuant to the appearance during last month’s council meeting of a large delegation of residents living near a stretch of Lévesque Blvd. West where a developer wants to build a new 25-storey residential tower, a number of people from the same crowd were back this month.

Martin C. Barry

EXCLUSIVE

The Laval News has learned that one of the people recently appointed by Mayor Marc Demers to the city’s new Place-du-Souvenir Fund committee was herself at one time a political attaché for former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt.

The Place-du-Souvenir Fund committee will be overseeing a $10 million settlement the City of Laval received from the disgraced ex-mayor who is now serving a prison sentence after being convicted of official corruption.

Vaillancourt’s pick for JP

In an October 1996 article in La Presse, the Montreal daily recounted Vaillancourt’s efforts to have Lynda Tousignant – one of those named on June 19 by Demers to the Place-du-Souvenir committee – appointed a Justice of the Peace in Laval’s municipal court system.

In a handout furnished last week by the City of Laval, Tousignant is identified as a member of the Barreau du Québec (Quebec Bar Association) since 1983 and an ex-employee of Laval’s legal affairs department, serving from 1998 to 2011.

Ran for ex-mayor’s Parti PRO

However, the city’s summary of Tousignant’s background doesn’t mention that she was also a candidate for the Parti Québécois in the Laval riding of Vimont for the 2012 election. Demers, who would be elected mayor of Laval in 2013, was also a PQ candidate in 2012 in the nearby Laval-des-Rapides riding.

In addition, the La Presse report noted that Tousignant was a candidate for former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt’s now defunct and discredited Parti PRO des Lavallois in the 1989 municipal election. Following her defeat (the paper said she was the only Parti PRO candidate that year who failed to be elected), she was hired by Vaillancourt as an attaché.

JP appointments rejected

According to La Presse, Tousignant took an unpaid leave in 1995 from her job as Vaillancourt’s assistant. The following year, the paper said, she was one of four City of Laval administration employees that Vaillancourt recommended to Quebec for appointment as Justices of the Peace to deal with a backlog of legal files in Laval’s municipal court system.

While, according to La Presse, Vaillancourt and the city argued that the appointments wouldn’t cost Laval more because the employees would be paid their existing salaries, the Quebec Ministry of Justice ruled they didn’t have the right kind of qualifications for Justices of the Peace, and Quebec refused to make the appointments, La Presse stated.

Tousignant responds

Reached by the Laval News at her home in Duvernay, Tousignant acknowledged she was an employee from 1990 to 1995 in Vaillancourt’s office as counsellor for legal and administrative affairs. As well, she said her tenure with the city’s legal affairs department was from 1996 to 2011.

Tousignant also acknowledged that the ran for the Parti PRO des Lavallois in 1989 in the district of Saint-Sylvain which no longer exists. Asked to explain why neither she nor the current City of Laval administration bothered to mention her past involvement with the Vaillancourt administration – especially when she’s now a trustee for a fund consisting of money that came from the former mayor’s corruption – Tousignant responded:

Didn’t see the relevance

“You can perhaps understand that I had left the mayor of Laval’s office so long ago that I really didn’t see the relevance. I realize it must seem ironic that I find myself here. Mr. Demers knows very well that I used to work in Mr. Vaillancourt’s office. I take this as a sign of the confidence he has in me and in my integrity.

“As for what happened to Mr. Vaillancourt, Mr. Vaillancourt was found guilty and he surrendered sums of money,” she continued. “Now what do we do with those sums? Mr. Demers and city council decided to place them in a fund dedicated to children and that is what attracted me – being able to help the children of Laval.”