Martin C. Barry

Laval city councillor for Souvenir-Labelle Jean Coupal, who was elected with the victorious Mouvement Lavallois in the 2013 municipal election, has decided to leave the governing party.

Coupal joins the ranks of a growing number of disaffected city councillors who prefer sitting as independents rather than with the council majority or the official opposition, which is perceived by some former members and critics as ineffective.

Mayor Demers reacts

“Mr. Coupal had views which were very much his own on a number of subjects,” Mayor Marc Demers said in a statement to the Laval News reacting to Coupal’s decision. “He had difficulty staying with the majority, which ended up isolating him within the team. I believe he will be more at ease as an independent and I wish him good luck. However, it’s still a fact that the citizens of his district voted for a candidate from the Mouvement Lavallois, which they no longer have.”

Was critical of ML

In a statement Coupal issued last Monday, he said he has been sitting as an independent since December. Coupal said he did this “in order to better represent the interests of the residents” of his district, as well as the interests of all Laval residents, and “not just from behind the closed doors of the Mouvement Lavallois caucus.”

Coupal said what ultimately made him decide to leave the ML was Laval city council’s recent awarding of a sole bidder computer services contract to an IT consultant who will be receiving nearly $3,000 a day for a total of more than $400,000 for 1,000 hours of work.

History repeating?

“In the beginning, the Mouvement Lavallois was created to oust Mayor Vaillancourt’s PRO des Lavallois,” Coupal said, referring to the former mayor’s defunct municipal party. “This was carried off with brilliance in November 2013.

“Since then, unfortunately, the Mouvement Lavallois has been determined to repeat the era of one-party rule in council,” he added, “by means of money which allows it to eliminate all opposition and to manage public funds without having to worry about the capacity of taxpayers to pay and the equity between them and public servants.”

Keeping count

Immediately following the 2013 election, the Mouvement Lavallois held 17 of the 21 council seats. Action Laval won two (Aglaia Revelakis in Chomedey and Paolo Galati in St-Vincent-de-Paul) and formed the official opposition, while Jacques St-Jean (Saint-François) and Michel Trottier (Fabreville) sat as independents.

In August 2014, Galati decided he was no longer interested in Action Laval and formally joined the Mouvement Lavallois. Since then, he’s been prominent at a good number of public functions where he’s visibly become close to the second most powerful elected official in Laval: executive-committee vice-president David De Cotis.

Trottier forms new party

While Jacques St-Jean remained steadily independent during this time, Michel Trottier – who was one of the most outspoken, demonstrative and vocal council members from the beginning – decided to forego his autonomy in July 2014 and join Action Laval which was and continues to be led by 2013 mayoral candidate Jean-Claude Gobé, who has said he intends to run for mayor again in 2017.

For the opposition party, this made up for the loss of Galati. Then in September 2015, Trottier decided he’d had enough with Action Laval and announced he would be sitting again as an independent, leaving Aglaia Revelakis as the only Action Laval member sitting on city council. By last month, Trottier was announcing the creation of a new political party, the Parti Laval, in preparation for the November 2017 municipal elections. For the time being, he is the interim leader of the party.

ML loses three more

In the meantime, the Mouvement Lavallois has lost the support of three other councillors who were originally elected under the party’s banner. In September 2014, Laval-des-Rapides city councillor Pierre Anthian decided to leave the ML to sit as an independent. But he was present alongside Michel Trottier in December when the latter announced the formation of his new party.

In November 2014, Councillor Alain Lecompte (l’Orée-des-Bois) also decided to quit the ML, citing a climate of distrust within the ruling party, to sit as an independent. Councillor Jean Coupal is the latest member of Laval city council to go down the same route.

For over three decades, Stephanie Seneff, PhD, has researched biology and technology, over the years publishing over 170 scholarly peer-reviewed articles. In recent years she has concentrated on the relationship between nutrition and health, tackling such topics as Alzheimer’s, autism, and cardiovascular diseases, as well as the impact of nutritional deficiencies and environmental toxins on human health.

At a conference last Thursday, in a special panel discussion about GMOs, she took the audience by surprise when she declared, “At today’s rate, by 2025, one in two children will be autistic.” She noted that the side effects of autism closely mimic those of glyphosate toxicity, and presented data showing a remarkably consistent correlation between the use of Roundup on crops (and the creation of Roundup-ready GMO crop seeds) with rising rates of autism. Children with autism have biomarkers indicative of excessive glyphosate, including zinc and iron deficiency, low serum sulfate, seizures, and mitochondrial disorder.

A fellow panelist reported that after Dr. Seneff’s presentation, “All of the 70 or so people in attendance were squirming, likely because they now had serious misgivings about serving their kids, or themselves, anything with corn or soy, which are nearly all genetically modified and thus tainted with Roundup and its glyphosate.”

Dr. Seneff noted the ubiquity of glyphosate’s use. Because it is used on corn and soy, all soft drinks and candies sweetened with corn syrup and all chips and cereals that contain soy fillers have small amounts of glyphosate in them, as do our beef and poultry since cattle and chicken are fed GMO corn or soy. Wheat is often sprayed with Roundup just prior to being harvested, which means that all non-organic bread and wheat products would also be sources of glyphosate toxicity. The amount of glyphosate in each product may not be large, but the cumulative effect (especially with as much processed food as Americans eat) could be devastating. A recent study shows that pregnant women living near farms where pesticides are applied have a 60% increased risk of children having an autism spectrum disorder.

Other toxic substances may also be autism-inducing. You may recall our story on the CDC whistleblower who revealed the government’s deliberate concealment of the link between the MMR vaccine (for measles, mumps, and rubella) and a sharply increased risk of autism, particularly in African American boys. Other studies now show a link between children’s exposure to pesticides and autism. Children who live in homes with vinyl floors, which can emit phthalate chemicals, are more likely to have autism. Children whose mothers smoked were also twice as likely to have autism. Research now acknowledges that environmental contaminants such as PCBs, PBDEs, and mercury can alter brain neuron functioning even before a child is born.

This month, the USDA released a study finding that although there were detectable levels of pesticide residue in more than half of food tested by the agency, 99% of samples taken were found to be within levels the government deems safe, and 40% were found to have no detectable trace of pesticides at all. The USDA added, however, that due to “cost concerns,” it did not test for residues of glyphosate. Let’s repeat that: they never tested for the active ingredient in the most widely used herbicide in the world. “Cost concerns”? How absurd—unless they mean it will cost them too much in terms of the special relationship between the USDA and Monsanto. You may recall the revolving door between Monsanto and the federal government, with agency officials becoming high-paying executives—and vice versa! Money, power, prestige: it’s all there. Monsanto and the USDA love to scratch each others’ backs. Clearly this omission was purposeful.

In addition, as we have previously reported, the number of adverse reactions from vaccines can be correlated as well with autism, though Seneff says it doesn’t correlate quite as closely as with Roundup. The same correlations between applications of glyphosate and autism show up in deaths from senility.

Of course, autism is a complex problem with many potential causes. Dr. Seneff’s data, however, is particularly important considering how close the correlation is—and because it is coming from a scientist with impeccable credentials. Earlier this year, she spoke at the Autism One conference and presented many of the same facts; that presentation is available on YouTube.

Monsanto claims that Roundup is harmless to humans. Bacteria, fungi, algae, parasites, and plants use a seven-step metabolic route known as the shikimate pathway for the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids; glyphosate inhibits this pathway, causing the plant to die, which is why it’s so effective as an herbicide. Monsanto says humans don’t have this shikimate pathway, so it’s perfectly safe.

Dr. Seneff points out, however, that our gut bacteria do have this pathway, and that’s crucial because these bacteria supply our body with crucial amino acids. Roundup thus kills beneficial gut bacteria, allowing pathogens to grow; interferes with the synthesis of amino acids including methionine, which leads to shortages in critical neurotransmitters and folate; chelates (removes) important minerals like iron, cobalt and manganese; and much more.

Even worse, she notes, additional chemicals in Roundup are untested because they’re classified as“inert,” yet according to a 2014 study in BioMed Research International, these chemicals are capable of amplifying the toxic effects of Roundup hundreds of times over.

Glyphosate is present in unusually high quantities in the breast milk of American mothers, at anywhere from 760 to 1,600 times the allowable limits in European drinking water. Urine testing shows Americans have ten times the glyphosate accumulation as Europeans.

“In my view, the situation is almost beyond repair,” Dr. Seneff said after her presentation. “We need to do something drastic.”

The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, announced the coming into force of a previously announced increase in the duration of the Employment Insurance (EI) compassionate care benefit, which will provide additional financial security to Canadian workers and their families in times of need.

The Minister also said that the Government will work towards providing more generous leave for caregivers in the future. The Government has committed to making the compassionate care benefit more flexible, easier to access and more inclusive, she said.

Compassionate care benefits provide temporary income support to eligible individuals who must be away from work to provide care for a gravely ill family member at risk of death.

Effective January 3, 2016, the enhanced benefit, announced in 2015, allows claimants to collect up to 26 weeks of benefits, up from the current 6 weeks. Further, the period during which benefits can be taken is expanded to 52 weeks (up from 26 weeks). Benefits can be shared between family members.

Eligibility for compassionate care benefits remains the same, including the requirement for a medical certificate signed by a doctor attesting to the family member’s condition.

Corresponding changes to the Canada Labour Code will come into force at the same time to ensure that the jobs of employees in federally regulated enterprises remain protected while they avail themselves of compassionate care benefits under the EI program.

Quick Facts  

• It is estimated that up to 6,900 claimants per year could benefit from the enhanced measure that will take effect in January 2016.
• In 2013–14, program costs for the current compassionate care benefit amounted to $12 million. An additional $37 million is being added annually to extend the duration of the compassionate care benefit over and above the current program costs.
• The measure will have a negligible impact on the EI premium rate.

Laval, December 11, 2015 – The Société de transport de Laval’s Board of Directors has adopted a new fare policy as a part of its 2016 budget. Our new budget is set at 136.6 million dollars which is a 4.2% increase over the 2015 budget. Despite these changes, the development of public transit and customer satisfaction remain our core priorities.

“Our Laval-based administration truly understands the importance of being dedicated to the promotion of public transit and 2016 will be no exception” said David De Cotis, President of the STL’s Board of Directors. “Municipal contributions to the STL will be increased by 7% while local rate increases are limited to 1.6% on average. This is our way of thanking the people of Laval for their ever-increasing loyalty to public transit.”

The results of the most recent Origin Destination (OD) Survey bear witness to the revitalizing effect of public transit in Laval. Between 2008 and 2013, Laval has seen a 28% increase in the use of public transit. In comparison, the entire metropolitan area only had a 10% growth rate. Over this same period, Laval has seen a marked population growth that expanded faster our fleet of buses. This is a unique situation for the entire Montreal region. The share of market played by public transit has increased by two points. From 18% in 2008, to the current 20%, this means that one out of every five Lavallers takes the bus every morning during rush hour.

We are predicting a 1% increase in ridership for 2016. Our service offer will be increased by 2% including the addition of a fifth accessible bus line for people with reduced mobility and people in wheelchairs.

The largest project yet

2016 will see the beginning of largest project the STL has ever taken on. “We will be implementing a series of preferential measures for buses (PMB) which will mean faster travel times for our clients” says Guy Picard, Director General of the STL. “In total, 227 intersections will be upgraded to smart traffic lights that will prioritize our vehicles when they are running behind schedule. Compared to driving, these measures will make the STL even more fluid, efficient and competitive.”

Guy Picard adds “This will send a clear message about the quality of our service and that the STL is re-affirming its vow to quality. This formal commitment will mean punctual service, cleanliness, the provision of meaningful information, the right to express opinions and be heard and most importantly, comfort. To pursue these goals, we will be continuing the acquisition and replacement of bus shelters which contributes to the sustainability of public furniture at bus stops and ensures the comfort of our clients. The STL will also be acquiring 28 new air-conditioned hybrid buses to make travelling more comfortable.”

2016 will also see the completion of our 20-million-dollar garage expansion project with will allow us to house an additional 60 buses. This three-year capital expenditure program will come to $165.5 million in total.

Sustaining the Horizon 65+ fare

The fare initiatives introduced in 2014 will remain in effect for 2016. The Horizon 65+ fare which has been a rousing success with 19,000 Lavallers to date is being maintained. The STL is the only transportation company in Canada to provide residents 65 years of age and older to travel for free using the Horizon 65+ fare which is valid throughout its service area with no restrictions.

The STL will also be expanding its family fare policy by allowing families to travel without having to pay a fare for children on weeks when school is out to help improve social inclusion.

The STL will also be reducing its fares by 40% in July and August for youths between the ages of 12 and 16 and it will be maintaining the $1 smog day fare. Not other transportation company has gone so far to encourage its riders to use public transit.

Metropolitan governance

2016 will be a landmark year for public transit as the foundation of a new Metropolitan Governance is being established that will see the adoption of Bill 76 which is designed to improve the efficiency of public transit. The STL wholeheartedly believes in the guiding principles of this project and it intends to collaborate fully with the Transition Committee to improve this ambitious reform.

The STL will however continue to ensure that this new governance plan does not limit its ability to innovate through technological of fare policies. It will therefore remain attentive and ensure that seniors can continue to ride for free throughout Laval.

Rigour and continuous improvement

The STL has undertaken several actions over the past few years to improve its management practices and ensure Lavallers that the funds it has been allotted are managed with rigour and efficiency.

This care is equally true of its planning methods, heritage management projects and in the management of its preventative and curative maintenance programs. All sectors of the company are subject to continuous improvement activities.

These efforts were lauded by the 2015 Grands Prix québécois de la qualité where we were awarded the Grande Mention. This recognition is the highest distinction awarded annually by the Government of Quebec to private businesses and public organizations selected according to the quality of their management and their overall performance.

“We are particularly proud of this prize which recognizes the work done by all of our employees at the STL as it reflects more than fifteen years of hard work to continuously improve and innovate” says David De Cotis. “Our budget includes several measures dedicated to the improvement of our services but the people of Laval deserve more. They also rightly expect us to manage the funds we receive with irreproachable rigour and we can assure them that this is exactly what we are doing.”

(TLN) Laval-des-Rapides Liberal MNA Saul Polo was at the Centre de pédiatrie sociale de Laval recently to announce a $1,500 subsidy from the Liberal government to the organization.

“After making several visits to the Centre de pédiatrie sociale de Laval, I could see the efficiency of the services provided by its members, but also the different needs being met by these services,” said Polo who is also parliamentary assistant to the Minister for Economy, Innovation and Exports.

“That’s why I decided to offer the financial support of $1,500 so that the clients of the centre could continue to benefit from quality services,” he continued. “During this holiday season, the needs of our residents are at the heart of my priorities.”

The subsidy was made available through the Quebec government’s Soutien à l’action bénévole program. It was welcome news for Centre de pédiatrie sociale executive-director Mylène Du Bois. Polo also noted the financial support provided to the centre by Dynacare, a company specializing in health care solutions.

Martin C. Barry

Laval’s four Liberal Members of Parliament gathered together recently to announce a federal program that will allow small businesses in Laval to obtain subsidies for the hiring of students 15 to 30 years of age this summer.

Jobs doubled

“We are currently working together to place the largest number of students in our four ridings,” Yves Robillard, the MP for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, said during a press conference held by the four to announce the program.

“This isn’t just a question of repeating something that’s already been done in the past,” added Alfred-Pellan Liberal MP Angelo Iacono. “Our government, our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has decided to double the number of jobs and to show an even greater sense of openness towards young people who are our future.

Groups and businesses

“During the summer of 2016, more students and more organizations will be able to benefit,” he continued. “What is also great is that we will be helping businesses with fewer than 50 employees to get started at the same time. This is an initiative that will be helping a lot of people, many of whom are in Laval. That’s why our hat is off to our government.”

Iacono said the new Liberal government decided to double funding for the program taking into account the high level of unemployment among young people today. “If you look at the amount of unemployment among those 15 to 24 years today, which for 2015 is more than 13 per cent, it is more than double the rate for those 25 years of age and older,” he noted.

Gaining experience

According to Vimy Liberal MP Eva Nassif, those applying for the grants will have to meet criteria established by the federal agency handling the program: Service Canada. “These opportunities will give a chance to students to enter the workforce while gaining confidence in themselves and learning about work environments,” she said.

“By investing in our cultural industries and the creative sector in order to create employment while reinforcing our rich Canadian identity, we can also build the strength of the summer employment program in these key sectors which are becoming increasingly important in the economy for young people,” said Nassif, while adding that the program will also be taking into account the 150^th anniversary of Canadian confederation in 2017.

Money for studies

As part of the program, the federal government will be paying up to 100 per cent of the salaries of students employed by non-profit organizations and 50 per cent for those employed by businesses, said Laval-Les Îles Liberal MP Fayçal El-Khoury. “Youths sometimes have trouble saving money for their studies,” he said.

“This program should help them. We have two goals: helping more students to acquire work experience in their chosen field, while providing support to non-profit businesses and small businesses which need workers for the summer. We believe that this is one of the most beneficial programs around.”

How to apply

Applications for the program are being accepted from Jan. 4 to Feb. 26, with decisions from Service Canada expected to be announced by early May. Additional subsidies will also be paid to non-profit groups and businesses that hire students who are handicapped. Additional information and application forms can be viewed and downloaded from the Service Canada web site: https://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eec.

Martin C. Barry

Contemplating the advances and changes made by his administration in the past two years to encourage real estate development in Laval, Mayor Marc Demers compares the city to an ice-clogged river in the springtime.

“Ice jams accumulate,” he said in an address at the Château Royal on Nov. 24 for the opening of a day-long real estate forum at which hundreds of developers and consultants were the guests. “In the case of the city, instead of ice let’s just say it was problems,” he added.

Rebuilding confidence

In Demers’ opinion, the biggest problem contributing to the jam was that “Laval lacked political leadership for many years.” While former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt and a host of accomplices now face long, drawn-out criminal trials on charges of corruption, the new mayor’s task is to rebuild a bond of confidence between the city and property developers.

“We need your help,” he told the developers. “The City of Laval will be built collectively by the people who are present in this room. Your success is our success. We are absolutely certain of this.”

The city is obviously aware of some of the key issues that developers are complaining about regarding their interaction with the municipality. The forum’s organizers placed cards on each of the tables where the developers were seated, calling to their attention such problems as “long delays in construction permits being issued.”

Streamling the system

That alone is one of the most frequently-heard complaints in almost any municipality – not just Laval. But it could easily be worse now in Laval, given various precautions and safeguards municipal administrators have had to put into place in the wake of the corruption scandal.

In his speech, Demers said the forum was being held largely to unveil to the developers the end result of a year of work and consultation by a city council committee mandated to find solutions to problems like the one just mentioned. “But this is just a first step,” he added.

“It’s not the end, not the conclusion, and we have to be in continuous movement to improve ourselves, to remain adept and to be a municipality that works with people who are building the city … Our goal, as I said, is that everyone in the room here can say at some point or another that things have become faster and more efficient to do business with the City of Laval. Because in business time is money.”

New procedures coming

In an interview with the Laval News, Demers said: “We’re going to have new procedures, new rules for the issuing of different permits, and this should allow us to react faster. When people want to have a permit to build something, we should be able to deliver that permit in a much faster time – in half the time it used to take.”

Demers said the city is also working to make the rules simpler than they were before. “Before when you wanted to build something, you had to get one permit at engineering, another permit at environment, another at urban planning.

“But now we will gather all of them in one permit,” he continued. “And if you have a big project, there will be somebody at the city who will take your case in charge and help you with all the procedures. Our main goal is to make it much easier and much faster to deal with the City of Laval than it was before.”

According to Laval executive-committee vice-president David De Cotis, the City of Laval now feels confident enough to offer developers a pledge that on average within 30 days of applying for a permit “there will be an official answer from the city,” he said. The policy came into effect on Dec. 1.

Five-year-long backlog

At the same time, though, De Cotis acknowledged that the city has a backlog of permit applications which in some cases stretch back as long as five years. “We’re promising that within the next six months the backlog will be reduced to 50 per cent and we’re hired additional employees for this purpose,” he said. “This is very promising and part of Mayor Demers’ vision for Laval to grow into one of the most prominent cities within Quebec.”

Perhaps because it’s still too early to see much improvement, one Montreal area real estate development consultant who attended the forum was sceptical of the city’s efforts. “It’s painful and tortuous, or at least it has been for the past few years,” said Robert Libman who has witnessed the issue from two angles. A former mayor of the City of Côte St. Luc, Libman also sat on the City of Montreal’s executive-committee with responsibility for urban planning, before Côte St. Luc demerged from Montreal a decade ago.

Former mayor now consultant

Libman, who now works in Montreal as an architectural and real estate development consultant, said he was “very hopeful and optimistic that this new process will start to streamline and improve the efficiency of project approval” in Laval.

All the same, according to Libman, his client is still waiting for approval for a 500-unit condo project on Souvenir Blvd. at the corner of Ampère in Pont-Viau after four years, as the city tries to decide whether to extend Souvenir Blvd.

During the forum, an example of the sort of development the city hopes will become more commonplace in Laval was unveiled. The project is the result of a partnership of financiers and developers that includes Claridge Investments, Montoni Development and the Quebec Federation of Labour’s Solidarity Fund.

‘Espace Montmorency’ project

Set to rise next to the 10,000-seat Place Bell in Laval des Rapides, Espace Montmorency, costing an estimated $420 million, will have 10 buildings as high as 20 storeys, with shops, offices, a hotel and entertainment facilities. It will be constructed on a 277,000-square-foot property near the Montmorency Métro to which it will also be connected.

“Espace Montmorency fits right in with our vision of a modern project that creates a genuine living environment and that has the potential for tremendous spinoffs,” said Pierre Boivin, president and CEO of Claridge. On the Montoni web site, the company says Espace Montmorency will be 20 minutes from downtown Montreal and “will help create a new downtown in Laval.”

Laval city councillor for Souvenir-Labelle Jean Coupal, who was elected with the victorious Mouvement Lavallois in the 2013 municipal election, has decided to leave the governing party.

Coupal joins the ranks of a growing number of disaffected city councillors who prefer sitting as independents rather than with the council majority or the official opposition, which is perceived by some former members and critics as ineffective.

Critical of ML

In a statement Coupal issued last Monday, he said he has been sitting as an independent since December. He said he did this “in order to better represent the interests of the residents” of his district, as well as the interests of all Laval residents, and “not just from behind the closed doors of the Mouvement Lavallois caucus.”

Coupal said what ultimately made him decide to leave the ML was Laval city council’s recent awarding of a sole bidder computer services contract to an IT consultant who will be receiving nearly $3,000 a day for a total of more than $400,000 for 1,000 hours of work.

History repeating?

“In the beginning, the Mouvement Lavallois was created to oust Mayor Vaillancourt’s PRO des Lavallois,” Coupal said, referring to the former mayor’s defunct municipal party. “This was carried off with brilliance in November 2013.

“Since then, unfortunately, the Mouvement Lavallois has been determined to repeat the era of one-party rule in council,” he added, “by means of money which allows it to eliminate all opposition and to manage public funds without having to worry about the capacity of taxpayers to pay and the equity between them and public servants.”

Martin C. Barry