Click here to read the Laval News Volume 24-11 online
This is a archived copy in PDF format of the Laval News Volume 24-11 that was published and distributed May 28, 2016.
This issue covers local events such us politics, sports and human interest stories. It features editorials and other columns
Alleged Mafia Member Rocco Sollecito was gunned down this morning in Laval.
According to reports, Rocco was hit by several bullets on St-Elzéar West Blvd., between Curé-Labelle et Chomedey boulevards.
Jennifer Aniston’s Mother – Nancy Dow died today at the age of 79 years old. She died after enduring a long illness. Dow suffered a stroke in 2011 followed by a second stroke a year later, according to multiple reports. The mother of two (Jennifer & John) was married to Jack Melick from 1956 -1961 and soap star John Anthony Aniston who is a Greek-American actor. He was best known for his role as Victor Kiriakis on the NBC daytime drama Days of Our Lives, from 1965-1980.
Jennifer’s parents divorced when she was 9 years old.
Cicilia Laurent who celebrated her final birthday at the offices of the Haitian consulate in Montreal on Jan. 31, 2016 died a natural death.
Varennes, Quebec, May 17, 2016
— Several employees at the Jean Coutu stores in Laval and the North Shore regions were honoured yesterday for having offered an exemplary customer service. During this recognition evening, held at the Sheraton Laval Hotel, recipients received a Club de l’excellence pin for obtaining ten perfect cumulative scores following rigorous evaluations.
“The Jean Coutu Group cares about customer service in each store of the PJC Jean Coutu network. This is why we believe it is important to note the success and excellence of the service provided by employees,” explains François J. Coutu, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Jean Coutu Group, who personally congratulated employees.
Mystery shoppers regularly visit stores of the PJC Jean Coutu network to assess the customer service rendered by each department. When all evaluation standards are met, employees receive a perfect score for the excellence of their service and they are recognized during this annual event known as Distinction Service.
The Laval Executive Committee has granted the nonprofit corporation PlantAction $ 12,500 for the purchase of 250 trees and the additional sum of $ 3 800 for the provision of planting materials, for a total of 16 300 $. Launched in 2012, PlantAction aims to educate residents about the importance of planting trees to beautify the landscape, encourage individual eco-citizenship and increase the natural urban canopy to counter heat islands on residential streets. The primary objective is to promote a healthy urban lifestyle respectful of the natural environment.
With these goals in mind PlantAction will plant 250 trees in Fabreville 125 of which will be planted in the spring of 2016 and the same number in autumn 2016. “Planting trees is one of the actions we value and encourage and integrate perfectly with our strategic vision of Laval. It is therefore natural for us to support PlantAction, which is dedicated to increasing the green cover of Laval and improving the ecology for the citizens, “argued the mayor, Marc Demers.
Planting of trees in other sectors will be tabled in the future as the administration considers this to be a priority in developing an ecologically friendly environment for its citizens.
The Executive Committee has authorized the issuing of grants totaling $19,398 which are earmarked for seven local recreational organizations. These organizations provided diverse service and programs in the fall of 2015 which benefited Laval youth. Laval’s financial assistance program for leisure and community life services offered by recognized and accredited organizations provides municipal funding of about $ 6 per participant for 17 year olds and under youth per session and a maximum of two times per year.
The name of the organizations benefiting from these grants include; Recreation Duvernay Saint Vincent serving 485 members will receive $2,910, Laval West Recreation serving 587 youth receives $3,522, Loisibourg with 422 participants is given
$2,532, Sainte-Dorothée Recreation with 795 inscriptions will benefit to the tune of $4,770, Residents Association Champfleury serving 182 receives $1,092, Recreation Saint-Bruno Laval serving 324 members gets $1,944 and Saint-Elzéar Entertainment which signed up 438 members collects $2,628.
The Executive Committee authorized the the publication of a tender for the repair of tennis and basketball court surfaces in various city parks. An assessment is underway to determine which areas will be the subject of work. Normally the bids for repair and resurfacing of playing surfaces depend on materials and the surface area involved and is charged a fee per square foot.
The executive is preparing to issue a public tender for the development and construction of sections of the hiking and cycling trail joining the Oka-Mont-Saint-Hilaire region of the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM) green path that passes through Laval. The project receives two thirds of its funding from the Montreal Metropolitan Community and the Quebec government. The initial estimate of $976,000 is part of Laval’s Three year Infrastructure program for active and sustainable mobility whose global budget for 2016 is approximately $28 million.
The Department of Culture, Recreation and Sport and Social Development has been mandated by the Executive Committee to develop conventions with the Secretariat for the condition of Women to help guide the training of municipal workers and staff of municipal partners addressing gender equality issues in the workplace. It is hoped that by better understanding the issues affecting the equality between women and men strategies and protocols can be developed that will promote a greater inclusion of women in the workplace. Also the administration would profit from a renewed perspective in guiding its choices and action to realize its objective of promoting a gender equal working environment.
On May 20th twelve students from the Commission scolaire de Laval have been authorized to participate in an unpaid internship stage to observe the staff of Laval’s Fire Department. Students benefit from first hand experiences and contacts when they are allowed to interact and observe professionals in their habitual work environments.
Laval’s executive committee has authorized its purchasing service to tender an offer for public bidding for the purchase of a new radio communication system P25 for its public security services, police and fire departments.
Project 25 (P25) radios are designed specifically for a suite of digital radio features that are used by federal, provincial, and local government public safety organizations. The main function of P25 radios is to allow various organizations and teams to communicate during emergency or mutual aid situations. The upgraded system will allow a quick integration into the communication networks already in use by Urgence Sante and North Shore public security organizations. Also the portable radios will help rapidly locate staff in situations of distress and high stress.
This new upgraded system will also create a safer working environment for first respondents in emergencies due to a greater battery life as well as a clearer and stronger transmission and reception of the radio signals. This is especially important in fire situations where personal is wearing their respiratory gear.
Motorola has taken a leadership role with P25 radios, offering innovative features such as IMPRES batteries, dual band radios, fully integrated touch screens, and industry-leading audio suppression that enable critical messages to be transmitted successfully.
In September of 2015 Industry Canada has given the city administration 18 months to upgrade their existing radio communication system EDACS P16 after which they could not guarantee the maintenance and quality control of this system.
The executive has tabled a first notice of intent to present a project to purchase or expropriate the lots needed to complete the passage of des Jacinthes street in St. Dorothee. An initial sum of $293,000 has been set aside for this purpose. The monies will come from the $25 million budget set aside in 2016 for the purposes of acquisitions for the development of infrastructures.
Martin C. Barry
With the demise of certain elements of the City of Laval’s administrative tools, including the former Conseil régional des élus de Laval (CRÉ), the city is developing new interfaces for the oversight of health and social services on its territory in conjunction with the CISSS health and social services agency.
In one of the first actions taken last week signalling the beginning of a new relationship between the city and the CISSS, the representatives of more than 20 health and social service organizations that serve the Laval region met with city officials at the Pavillon du Bois-Papineau in Duvernay for a half-day conference to exchange views on working more closely together from now on.
“This is the beginning of a coming effort to work out a regional policy for social development,” said Laval city councillor for Laval-Les Îles Nicholas Borne who was representing Mayor Marc Demers. “This is something rather unique. To our knowledge it’s never been done elsewhere in Quebec. It’s done in collaboration with the CISSS as well as with the many health and social services organizations who are represented by more than 100 people here today.”
When asked what the city hopes to achieve through the new relationship, Borne replied, “Basically we want to work with them at the local level. We think that through coordination we should be able to develop a consistent policy. We want all of them to contribute along with their strength and their resources to help us develop policy as much as possible. Policy will be developed in conjunction with them, but we need their assistance to get things started.”
In a statement issued in a press release, Mayor Marc Demers said that since work previously done by the semi-autonomous Conférence des élus de Laval is now part of the City of Laval’s internal systems, “we have been working to revise our ways of making things more dynamic while working more closely together. We are determined to take on these new responsibilities and we believe that the most efficient way to get there is to work in concert with our partners in the field.”
For her part, Danièle Dulude, president and assistant executive-director of the CISSS de Laval, said, “By its mission and its responsibility towards the population, the CISSS is committed along with the City of Laval to meeting the challenge of creating an environment favourable to the health of youths, families and senior citizens.”
According to the city and the CISSS, a steering committee made up of 20 representatives of institutions and organizations from Laval, including nine representatives who were elected during a start-up meeting, as well as three co-opted members, will be hammering out an understanding for the eventual development of a detailed policy.
“I believe firmly that the participation of the largest number of people possible and the possibility of listening to points of view will be such that ideas will come out of this and this will be an essential factor for the success of this project,” Dulude added later in a speech to the group leaders.
“Being committed to social development means working to support communities in order to improve living conditions of the most vulnerable, thus contributing to improving the quality of life of everyone,” she continued. “This is an all important factor for prevention for all physical health problems as well as those that are psychological and developmental in people.
“We need to develop our people. Our literature and research tell is it is essential. If we are here as the CISSS, it’s because we believe it sincerely. By gathering our preoccupations around four themes, we will be putting into place stimulating projects which are sure to have an impact on all our citizens of Laval all over the city. We want to make a project that’s innovative and we would like to be ahead of the game with this project.”
Dimitrios celebrating 16th birthday & Sara-Jane celebrating 12th birthday.
On the occasion of its Spring Cocktail celebration, the Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence (FAEQ), in association with 14 cherished partners, has awarded $184,500 in individual bursaries to 55 deserving student-athletes through its Sponsorship Program.
The following companies are participating in the sponsorship program, and have awarded their annual bursaries: Hason Steel, Aquam, Atrium Innovations, Bell Media, Blue Bridge, Cogeco Media, Corus Media, Fondation Bruny Surin, Fondation des Gouverneurs de Québec, Fondation Gilles Chatel, Grenier aux emplois, Imagineo, Math Sport, and Samson Groupe Conseil.
The cocktail event was held in the John Molson Room at the Molson Coors company, the latter being one of the FAEQ’s proud partners for more than 30 years. The FAEQ also celebrated the breathtaking performances of numerous bursary recipients, who have already qualified or are in the process of qualifying for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
FAEQ President for over 15 years, Mr. Claude Chagnon enthused, “The Foundation seeks to highlight the importance, renown reputation, and impressive growth that the Sponsorship Program has experienced in recent years. The latter enables both small and large companies as well as some of the Foundation’s partners, to contribute financially to making a genuine difference in the lives of student-athletes in Quebec; some have even been able to develop long-term professional relationships with the student-athletes they sponsor. Now more than ever, these companies and partners are united with the Foundation for the academic, athletic, and professional achievements of Quebec’s student-athletes.
