Mayor Stéphane Boyer answers questions during the January 14 Laval city council meeting. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
LPD union decries slowness of labour agreement talks at January council
For the second time, Laval mayor Stéphane Boyer declined during the January city council meeting to state whether he intends to seek a second term in the municipal elections set to take place on November 2.
In fact, one of the only allusions made by the mayor to the upcoming elections came during his opening remarks – which were unusually brief.
Mayor had little to say
As has been the custom for decades, the mayor usually speaks for at least a few minutes around the start of each public council meeting, delivering a summary of recent events as well as issues which may be on the radar in the weeks and months ahead.
“I wish a happy new year to all our citizens,” was almost all Mayor Boyer said. “And I take the opportunity to wish you in this municipal election year that you have exchanges which are constructive and calm for the best interests of the residents of Laval.”
During question period, former city councillor for Laval-des-Rapides Pierre Anthian noted that it was the second time in as many months that he’d asked Mayor Boyer to state whether he intended to run.
“After all, we are eight months from the elections and I think the citizens have a right to know if he [the mayor] is going to stand for election,” Anthian said.
No answer on his candidacy
While observing that Anthian himself had been a candidate for council and the mayoralty over the past three to four elections, Mayor Boyer stated plainly that he would once again not say whether he’ll be running again.
During a period reserved for the presentation of petitions, Chomedey councillor Aglaia Revelakis tabled one which was signed by more than 70 residents of Jacques Plante St. and Eliot Ave. in Chomedey. They were complaining of not being consulted prior to the implementation of bicycle paths near their homes.
“As is always the case when we don’t consult the citizens before making decisions that directly impact them, this makes them unhappy,” said Revelakis, while adding that the signers are demanding that the bike paths be withdrawn from their streets.
No police contract for a year
Sylvain Tardif, president of the Fraternité des Policiers de Laval which represents the city’s more than 700 unionized police officers, complained to the mayor and council that the police have been without a contract since January last year.
“Negotiations with the city, although they got off to a good start, have slowed down significantly since the middle of 2024,” he said. He said negotiations are now taking place in a context “where the workload of the police is growing heavier and becoming more complex.”
Citing a recent report in the Montreal daily La Presse, that up to last December gunfire incidents had increased by 100 per cent on Laval’s territory over the previous year, while other indicators also suggested increased crime, Tardif said the trend was an indicator of more serious underlying issues, and that the LPD finds itself on the front line to deal with them.
LPD union losing patience
“To assure quality service to the population, the city must offer working conditions adapted to the evolution of the responsibilities of its police,” Tardif continued. “These working conditions, matched to an approach close to the population, will allow us to improve the quality of life of citizens.”
He said measures taken by the city which have proven to be counterproductive in reaching an agreement with the police included the closing of police and municipal services offices in eastern and western Laval, “which unfortunately is adding to scepticism towards the municipal administration.”
Reacting, Fabreville city councillor Claude Larochelle, who leads the Parti Laval official opposition party, said he felt disappointed last November when the city inaugurated the new Espace citoyen building in Saint-François, when he saw that a neighbourhood police station which was supposed to be included wasn’t yet up and running because of municipal budget cuts that had been made.
Mayor Boyer explains
Mayor Boyer acknowledged that since 2019, as part of an overall plan to reform the LPD, the city had been closing some local police stations so as to have more officers out on the terrain.
But while noting that several smaller stations were closed because few residents were going there and they were doing so mostly for routine things, Boyer said the number of available police officers has remained the same.
“We preferred to invest money in various measures, various squadrons, which were created and are well known, rather than to have an officer at a counter where people fill out forms a few times per day,” said Boyer.
A 27-year-old man whose home is in Laval is one of three suspects accused by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police of being accessories to a criminal operation in which they attempted to smuggle people from Canada across the border in the United States.
Julian Camilo Rojas Murcia of Laval, Edward Alejandro Rojas Sanchez, age 24, from Montreal, and Fernando Esparza Dominguez, 33, of Montreal faces charges filed by the RCMP that they conspired to commit an offence in the US.
The RCMP alleges the three men were set to transport a group of people from Montreal to an unguarded location somewhere on the Canada-U.S. border south of Montreal on at least one occasion.
The RCMP further alleges that each of the persons in the group who were to be transported was set to pay $4,000 to the suspects, who are scheduled to be arraigned at the Palais de Justice in Montreal on February 4.
The current issue of the Laval News, volume 33-02, published on January 22nd, 2025. Covering Laval local news, politics, and sports. (Click on the image to read the paper.)
Front page of The Laval News, January 22nd, 2025 issue.
Six people who were living in a triplex on Notre-Dame Boulevard in Chomedey are temporarily homeless following a January 6 fire in the building near the intersection of 100th Avenue.
It was just after 3:15 pm when the firefighters arrived on the scene, needing only around 45 minutes to declare the blaze under control.
Damages to the building were estimated at $150,000, with a further $40,000 for damage to furnishings and interior property.
A 59-year-old man from Laval and three other suspects from Montreal and the North Shore are facing charges they conspired to import and produce cocaine using an ingenious scheme to try and deceive the Canada Border Services Agency.
In a statement issued by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Federal Policing Eastern Region division, the force says an investigation by the Airport and Federal Investigations Detachment began in December 2022, after the CBSA intercepted a package from Colombia containing 39 cardboard boxes soaked in cocaine.
“Laboratory analysis revealed that each box contained approximately 29 grams of the illicit substance, for a total of almost 1.3 kg,” according to the RCMP.
The RCMP issued this photo alleged to be of incriminating materials seized in Laval from the suspects. (Photo: Courtesy of RCMP)
During the investigation, police dismantled a clandestine laboratory in a commercial building in Laval, presumably used for cocaine extraction purposes.
Two other commercial buildings were also searched.
Investigators seized several electronic devices, laboratory equipment and notes on how to extract the cocaine from the cardboard.
The suspects were identified by the RCMP as:
Jean Bergeron, 59, from Laval
Jonathan Gallotta, 41, from Mirabel
Laurent-Alexandre Riverin, 31, from Montreal
and Aéala Bizien, 30, from Boisbriand
They are scheduled to appear on January 29 at the Palais de Justice de Laval.
The charges they face include cocaine importation, possession for the purpose of trafficking and conspiracy.
The Quebec Ministry of Health is advising anyone who was at the Carrefour Laval on Jan. 7 that they may have been infected by measles and should take precautions to keep it from spreading.
The ministry is currently tracking a measles outbreak that began in December and that now has been confirmed in nearly a dozen cases.
The ministry estimates that thousands of people may have been exposed to the infection from the Jan. 7 incident alone, although not all will become ill.
If you were in either of the above locations on that date, you are advised to verify whether there was a likelihood of your becoming infected at the ministry website Québec.ca/rougeole, or by telephoning 1 877 644-4545.
Measles, which is highly contagious, is spread by coughing or sneezing into the air.
It can also be transmitted by touching the eyes, nose, or mouth after being in contact with an infected surface.
The symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and general malaise, followed by rashes on the face and body.
Cracks appeared, as stability turned into volatility in federal politics
Although the year 2024 had a relatively inauspicious beginning, there were hints part-way through the year of the political turmoil lying ahead.
While Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s popularity was steadily declining in the polls, Conservative leader Pierre Poilièvre was gaining traction.
In our first issue for 2025, The Laval News takes a look at these and other important newsmakers up to June last year. In our next issue, we will examine the following six months.
January
Justin Trudeau celebrating Tamil Heritage Month in Chomedey in January 2024.
Tamil community celebrates Tamil Heritage Month
Elected officials from the federal, provincial and municipal governments, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, expressed support for the Tamil people during a major event for Tamil Heritage Month held at the Château Royal in Laval, drawing more than 1,000 persons of Tamil origin.
“Canada has one of the largest Tamil diasporas in the world,” said Trudeau, noting that Liberal government under his father in 1983 welcomed more than 1,800 Tamils who came to settle in Canada, starting a wave of further immigration to this country by the Tamil community.
Weapons seized from man who was digging a bunker
Sent to assist a bailiff with an eviction, the Laval Police ended up arresting a 32-year-old male suspect after finding firearms and a bunker at his home in a rental building in Laval-des-Rapides.
Called in to support the bailiff who was in the process of evicting a tenant, police officers entered only to discover several firearms that had allegedly not been stored safely.
While immediately seizing the weapons, the police were also surprised to see that the tenant had dug a hole in his apartment to make a bunker. After evacuating all the occupants of the multiunit building, the police completed an initial investigation of the premises and arrested the suspect.
Man dies in house fire on Jarry Blvd. in Chomedey
The Laval Police opened an investigation after a fire that left a 71-year-old man dead on Jarry Blvd. in Chomedey.
According to the LPD, a 9-1-1 call was received, reporting flames at a residence on Jarry Blvd. Firefighters who entered found a man unconscious inside. Although attempts to resuscitate him were made and he was taken to hospital, he was later declared dead.
While a preliminary investigation suggested the fire was accidental, an on-site inspection of the residence’s kitchen found a smoke detector that had no battery.
February
$325,000 donated by Pink in the City to MUHC
Members of Denise and Bobby Vourtzoumis’ family, including children and grandchildren, are seen here with an enlarged cheque for $325,000, representing Pink in the City’s donation in January 2024 to the MUHC Foundation. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
Pink in the City’s latest annual contribution to the MUHC Foundation early last year was an astounding $325,000. It was presented to McGill University Health Centre officials during a rousing celebration, including a Pink in the City plaque unveiling, at the hospital in west-end Montreal.
Over nearly two decades, Pink in the City has raised well over $1 million for the MUHC’s Breast Clinic Wellness Program.
Guests at the celebration included Laval city councillor for l’Abord à Plouffe Vasilios Karidogiannis, Montreal city councillor for Parc Extension Mary Deros, Senator Tony Loffreda and a delegation of students from Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board schools, who helped with the fundraising.
Council decision opens development for future movie studio
Elected officials from both sides of the Laval city council floor enthusiastically greeted council’s decision to approve a zoning change in the Saint-François district that will allow the development of a sprawling film production complex to be known as Trudel Studios on a tract of land currently owned by Laval.
“After consulting the population twice rather than just once, we are giving the green light for the creation of this important cinema production complex in Laval,” Mayor Stéphane Boyer said in a statement. “Should it be built, this project will enable the creation of hundreds of jobs, while also developing an altogether new industry on Laval’s territory.”
Clients of the McDonald’s restaurant at the corner of Saint-Martin and Le Corbusier boulevards suffered the effects of a pepper spray attack in late January 2024.
30 people pepper sprayed at Saint-Martin McDonald’s
As many as 30 people who were enjoying an early evening meal on Jan. 28 at a McDonald’s restaurant on Saint-Martin Blvd. near Le Corbusier Blvd. in downtown Laval suffered burning eyes as well as respiratory irritations after four individuals released pepper spray, while apparently targeting a specific 18-yearold male.
Some of those who were impacted had to be transported to hospital. It was also reported that a general panic broke out inside the restaurant for a few minutes after the suspects released the substance.
Mulcair denounces Legault’s ‘mean spiritedness’
“Values – fundamental values – cannot be withstanded away.”
With those words – echoing perhaps another politician’s assertion in the Quebec National Assembly 36 years earlier that “rights are rights are rights” – former NDP leader and Chomedey MNA Tom Mulcair denounced Quebec Premier François Legault’s endorsement of various pieces of nationalistic and protectionist legislation.
During a talk to followers of Concordia University’s Jurist-in-Residence Conference series, Mulcair described Legault as a cynical politician caving in to political pressures from Francophone nationalists, while suppressing other people’s rights.
March
Moderna starts making Covid vaccines in Laval
Moderna’s mRNA facility in Chomedey, Laval.
A new Covid vaccine manufacturing plant that was just completed last February in Laval’s Cité de la Biotech was expected to be up and running by the following fall, according to Moderna, the company that built the facility.
The $250-million plant, which officially opened with federal, provincial and municipal officials present, will eventually produce about 100 million doses of vaccines annually, which is enough for all of Canada.
“The arrival of a major player in life sciences and health technologies in the Laval economic ecosystem is a sign of a dynamic city in action,” said Mayor Stéphane Boyer.
“Completing the construction of our mRNA facility marks a groundbreaking moment for Moderna and Canada as we progress towards delivering a domestic mRNA vaccine supply chain,” said Stefan Raos, general manager of Moderna Canada.
Laval takes back $60 million skimmed during Vaillancourt’s watch
Gilles Vaillancourt’s name was invoked repeatedly during a splashy press conference that officials with the City of Laval held at the interim city hall on Saint-Martin Blvd.
The purpose: to close the book on the sad legacy the former mayor left after he resigned from office in 2012, after nearly 40 years as mayor and as a city councillor before then.
Over the past 10 years, the City of Laval filed a string of lawsuits against outside contractors, to ultimately recover $60 million in funds which had been systematically overpaid to them during Vaillancourt’s time. It was a scheme that saw a percentage kicked back to Vaillancourt’s Parti PRO des Lavallois.
Ottawa acted against car thefts, said Treasury Board’s Anita Anand
In an exclusive interview with The Laval News, federal Treasury Board President Anita Anand said the Trudeau government was raising Canada Border Services Agency funding by $28 million for more stolen vehicle investigations – including some that would be using artificial intelligence (AI).
Anand was one of five Trudeau cabinet ministers who took part in Ottawa in the Liberal government’s National Summit on Combatting Auto Theft.
“Never before have we had a conference like this to convene a conversation about how we can each do better to combat auto theft,” said Anand.
A former junior hockey player, coach Tony Polito jumped into the action on the ice during a practice at the Hartland Monahan Arena. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
Coach leads Riverains M15-AA to victory with a formula for success
The Ligue Hockey Laurentides-Lanaudière’s 2023-2024 season was a fruitful one for Hockey Laval Riverains M15-AA coach Tony Polito. And the last few years were extraordinary under coach Tony’s leadership.
In the last three years alone, the Riverains M15-AA team of promising 15-year-old players had succeeded in clinching as many as six championships. The Laval News profiled the team and the coaching staff in our March 20 issue.
April
Parents, pros shared views at ‘Autism in the Early Years’
After several months and countless hours of preparation by an organizing committee assisted by a team of dedicated volunteers, more than 100 parents and professionals with an interest in autism had the opportunity to explore a wide range of autism-related topics during the Autism in the Early Years symposium.
Co-hosted by the Laval-based Youth and Parents Agape Association with the Giant Steps School in Montreal, the symposium drew caregivers, speakers, presenters, panelists and artists who contributed information, opinions and ideas.
Laval, Montreal officials observe Greek Independence Day
As reported in The Laval News’s April 3 issue, elected officials from three levels of government gathered at the Veterans’ Cenotaph near Laval city hall on March 23 to pay respects with residents of Hellenic origin to Greek veterans and soldiers on the occasion of the 203rd anniversary of Greece’s national independence.
Among those leaving commemorative wreaths were a representative from the Consulate General for Greece in Montreal, local and Montreal-area Liberal MPs, Laval-area MNAs, and city councillors from Laval and the City of Montreal.
Drug traffickers were using this commercial/industrial location to produce methamphetamine, according to the RCMP. (Photo: Courtesy of RCMP)
Raid in Laval nets major haul of meth
As reported by Laval News, officers from the intra-police force Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) executed a search warrant at a Laval residence, resulting in the discovery of an estimated 1,750,000 tablets of suspected methamphetamine.
According to a statement issued by the RCMP, the tablets were found in an unoccupied house in Laval suspected of having been used for the sole purpose of storing drugs. Significant quantities of chemicals used in the production of illicit tablets, two pill presses and sophisticated equipment for large-scale drug production also were seized.
AS Laval unveiled electrifying, redesigned soccer uniforms
Proud parents, supporters and friends of AS Laval junior soccer gathered for a 5 to 7 get-together in the showroom of BMW Laval, one of the club’s lead sponsors, on April 4 for the unveiling of their latest uniforms.
A Mustang Mach-E all-electric police cruiser similar to the 13 cars purchased by the city last year. (Screenshot photo: YouTube)
The jerseys, shorts and socks, in a range of colors with a hint of silver, prominently featured a BMW Laval logo and crest at the centre of the jerseys. There was also an AS Laval crest just below the left shoulder, as well as various sponsors’ insignias and logos elsewhere on the socks, shorts and jerseys.
Storm erupted over ‘Mustang Mach-E’ police car purchase
Mayor Stéphane Boyer was apologizing in April last year for the Laval Police Dept.’s $1.5 million purchase of a small fleet of new electric police vehicles – including one for the police chief costing $94,000 – while publicly reprimanding LPD director Pierre Brochet.
“I had a good conversation with the chief of police so that this does not happen again,” Mayor Boyer said. “This is not the image we want to project.”
May
Four key members of the Lanvac Group of companies crew during the Security Canada East trade show at the Laval Sheraton on April 24 last year. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
Lanvac expanded with monitoring central and FindMyAlarm.com
Lanvac Surveillance, Canada’s leading third-party wholesaler of alarm monitoring, was foreseeing more milestone events in 2024 – ones that held the promise of expanding the Montreal-based company’s imprint from that of a respected wholesaler into a more instantly recognizable brand.
Members of the Lanvac team were on hand at their corporate booth during the Security Canada East trade show at the Laval Sheraton.
Laval topped list of Quebec’s cities most targeted by fraud
The City of Laval was one of two communities in Quebec that saw the sharpest increases in fraud last year, according to data compiled by the Quebec Association of Directors of Police (ADPQ).
Laval and Quebec’s Mauricie region saw the biggest increases in fraud at 20 per cent. The most frequent frauds in Quebec, according to the ADPQ, were those involving the fraudulent use of gift and credit cards, computers and identity theft.
Eiffel Ave. petition asked Laval to halt street narrowing
In April, homeowners on Eiffel Ave. in Chomedey rose up in protest over plans by the City of Laval to narrow their street while widening the sidewalks during a road reconstruction set to take place over the summer.
“They want to expand the sidewalks on each side,” said Yota Stamatopoulos who helped gather a petition. She said the sidewalks would be extended to 1.8 metres in width after being 1.4 metres for decades.
“That would shrink our already small street,” she said. In addition, she said the city wanted to eliminate all parking spaces on one side of the street.
Bâton Rouge dinner raised $132,000 for Giant Steps Autism Centre
A fundraising dinner for the Giant Steps School held at the Décarie Bâton Rouge Grillhouse & Bar in Montreal on April 29 raised $132,000 for the Giant Steps Autism Centre.
The event was hosted by Senator Leo Housakos. “We owe Senator Housakos a huge debt of gratitude,” said Nick Katalifos, vice-president of the Giant Steps School board of directors.
The Jules Verne Elementary School students raised more than $9,000 in pledges for Pink in the City last year. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
Jules Verne Elementary students raised more than $9,000 for Pink in the City
Students at Jules Verne Elementary School succeeded in raising more than $9,000 for the Pink in the City breast cancer cause during the second annual ‘Spring Raise Craze’ head shave event held at the school in Laval’s Pont-Viau district on May 24.
“We have a hairdresser for everybody,” Jules Verne Elementary principal Melissa Roux said in an interview with The Laval News.
She was among the many staff members, parents and school children who wore pink as a sign of their solidarity with the cause.
June
Thousands attended Laval’s 2024 Firemen’s Festival
It was only the second time Laval’s annual Firemen’s Festival took place on the grounds outside Collège Montmorency in the city’s downtown core on June 1-2, after being held for many years previously at the Centropolis mall.
The ever-popular parade of fire trucks, with sirens and warning signals screaming, was on Saturday morning.
Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 am to 4 pm, the site hosted a range of activities, including educational kiosks on fire prevention and safety, a car accident simulation, firefighter museum artefacts, fire truck displays and more.
The three-storey Avenir de Femmes building on Dumouchel Ave. in Laval-des-Rapides. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
New social housing for low-income single moms and kids
Nearly two dozen young families from Laval headed by low-income single moms got a better sense of security and a permanent roof over their heads following the completion of a new subsidized housing project in central Laval made possible through the cooperative efforts of three levels of government.
The three-storey 23-unit building on Dumouchel Ave. in Laval-des-Rapides required an investment of more than $10.1 million.
“Every Quebecer deserves a safe and affordable place to call home, regardless of their situation,” said Vimy Liberal MP Annie Koutrakis, parliamentary secretary to the minister responsible for Economic Development Agency of Canada’s Quebec region.
Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke at the Château Royal in Chomedey last year in June. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
Trudeau stands by Liberal spending during fundraiser in Laval
Although Canadians weren’t expected to head to the polls until October 2025, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a preview in Laval in June of some of the rhetoric that might be expected.
“We have the lowest deficit in the G7,” he maintained, while noting that Canada is rated by international bankers as having one of the strongest-performing economies in the world.
Iacono stirs debate with comments on ‘officially bilingual’ Quebec
In a rare instance of unity, House of Commons MPs as well as National Assembly MNAs were outraged by comments by Alfred-Pellan backbench Liberal MP Angelo Iacono that Quebec would have a lot to gain from becoming officially bilingual, rather than having only French as an official language.
Iacono made the comments during a meeting of the Commons’ Permanent Committee on Official Languages. “I believe that Quebec, and I believe that Canada, should be a bilingual country, to be stronger and not just be a unilingual French-speaking province,” Iacono said.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilièvre was received by an enthusiastic crowd of supporters during a campaign launch rally in June last year in Montreal’s west end. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
Poilièvre accused Trudeau of sowing division, as Liberal PM’s poll standings dropped
In June last year, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre got a head-start campaigning in Quebec for an expected 2025 federal election, with a well-attended launch event at a Jewish community centre in Montreal.
Poilièvre laced into the Liberal Prime Minister – much to the delight of the highly partisan crowd. After nine years of Trudeau, according to Poilièvre, “everything is broken” and “crime, chaos, drugs and disorder rage out of control on our streets. People can’t afford the basics of life. He [Trudeau] promised to help the middle class, but nine years later the middle class no longer exists.”
Sledding is a favourite activity every year at Laval en Blanc.
Moms, dads and kids will party for three days at Centre de la Nature
Thousands of moms, dads and kids will be turning out at the Centre de la Nature in Laval’s Duvernay district on the weekend of Jan. 24-25-26 for Laval en Blanc, a rejuvenating celebration of winter that serves as an annual counterpoint to the city’s popular Fête de la Famille during the summer.
Who would have thought that so much fun could be had during this dismal time of the year? For many parents, fun in the cold and snow is a discovery in itself – although they often learn it through their children, because the kids have known it all along.
Fun for everyone
For some, the idea of having fun outdoors during the winter, in temperatures hovering around zero degrees Celsius, is a novel concept and a discovery in itself – although it’s the very reason Laval en Blanc is organized each year by the city.
There will be snow sledding, ice skating, zip line rides, fireworks obstacle course racing, snow sculpting. There’ll even be some musical performances to be enjoyed by kids and their families safe and warm inside a pavilion.
Friday’s program highlights.
The zip line at the 2023 Laval en Blanc. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
Via ferrata: Come scale simulated mountain peaks. For the whole family, although children (around 7 years old) must be at least 48 inches tall.
Obstacle course: Alone or as a small team, challenge your stamina and balance by racing an obstacle course against time. Eight obstacles in all. Children must be at least three feet tall (around age 3).
And, of course, the ever-popular Zip-Line, taking young and old on a a fast and thrilling trip above snow and ice, will be back at the Centre de la Nature. Minimum recommended height for this is 32 inches (appropriate for kids 2 to 6 years in age).
Winter fun all day
Saturday’s programming is similar, with many other activities that include an outdoor snow sculpting workshop, archery, a snow fort building challenge, strolling entertainers, and snow sledding under the stars for those who wish to linger a little later in the day.
Laval en Blanc will be taking place from January 24 to 26 at the Centre de la nature 901 avenue du Parc in Duvernay. Schedule:
Can principals give relevant advice after they have been out of the classroom for years, or does it only matter how they lead? Should principals only be allowed 3 to 5 years before they are returned to the classroom for a year then reapply for another principalship if still interested in exercising administrative, managerial, motivational, and inspirational skills, talents, and strategies?
Although this idea may be cumbersome and even farfetched, how can it be ensured that principals stay effective in their knowledge when sought out by teachers? After all, there are only so many conferences, articles, discussions, workshops one can experience and even those will never add up to crucial classroom experience. Perhaps a return-to-the-classroom is not needed, assuming that principals can stay current through their teachers, but don’t they also need to rely on their own hands-on in classroom experiences to guide kids and teachers alike? Is there an answer?
If by self-assessment, peer-review, and supervisory evaluation, the consensus is that a principal no longer meets the needs of teachers, students, and school board, should they not be encouraged, supported, aided-and-abetted to re-enter classrooms, at least temporarily, to recharge their initial commitment to being the best principal possible?
Why not send them back to the classroom where there is a dire need for more teachers to reduce the often-debilitating ratio of one teacher to 30-40 students? It used to be that once a principal, always be a principal, but it seems it’s not so anymore. Principals have to show that they can still effectively do the work needed. Can principals give relevant advice after they have been out classrooms for too-many years? Yes, but that is dependent upon the principals themselves and whether they are willing to learn. If principals go into classrooms and work with teachers, they get perspectives that other principals don’t necessarily get. They see effective and ineffective teaching. If they don’t go into the classroom, they lose contact and context.
Furthermore, effective principals should be teachers, not necessarily directly to kids but definitely to staff. True, teaching teachers has its own challenges. However, if principals simply “run” meetings, they have lost sight of what it is to teach.
Does it matter how many years they taught, prior to taking hold of an administrative desk? Or does it only matter how they perform as leaders? Then again, there are teachers that have taught 20 years and are ineffective while others who have taught 1 to 5 years, are truly amazing. Teachers that are sponges, willing to grow, tend to excel faster no matter their age. The same should apply to administrators. Do teachers become ineffective after a number of years? It is hoped not. Again, this has more to do with mindsets and being learners. If teachers don’t “learn” anymore, then of course they would be out of touch, especially if they don’t place themselves in the way that kids learn today based on our changing world.
The dominant trust and belief must be that all stakeholders in schools, whether custodians, parents, students, secretaries, teachers, technicians, guidance counselors, psychologists or principals, and anyone else, have opportunities to be learners and teachers.
Double standards need to be abolished. Many teachers also need to be “re-trained”. Teaching, sadly for many is about comfort and routine. If this is true, and principals are imposed term limits, then, it’s only fair and effective to advocate that teachers need “reassignment” at the same rate, say every four or five years.
Education. especially the public kind delivered by school boards and/or Service Centres is an easy place to dig one’s wheel lines and ruts, and like trail-horses, stick to them yearafter-year. Essentially, this isn’t an issue of Principalship. It’s an issue of professionalism. What are principals and teachers doing as professionals to continue their own learning, in and out of school? Staying relevant takes work such as continual professional development, both formal and informal, getting into classrooms on an ongoing and regular basis, and not only observing but working with teachers.
If principals aren’t learners, it doesn’t matter how long they are administrators. learners will continue to evolve, adapt, stay relevant. The time principals spend learning with staff and students in classrooms is what is valued most.
Perhaps the real problem is continuous principal turnover, not principals staying too long. Studies show that average tenures of high school principals is only three years. Rapid turnover of principals leads to increased teacher turnover, problems recruiting and retaining best teachers, and increased reluctance of staff to commit to school improvement efforts.
Those seeking to improve schooling through efforts to increase teacher effectiveness are realizing that such efforts rely heavily on a principal’s capacity, stability, and good judgement to assess professionally and fairly.
A principal’s primary job is to drive the mission of the school and to develop the right culture that values, enfranchises and even inspires kids and staff in pursuing that mission. Man or woman, he or she has to manage all of the assembled skills and personalities to get a team to work together towards a common goal. That takes special talent Extraordinary Educational Leaders.
Koutrakis and Trudeau in better times a few years back.
‘Every leader has an expiry date,’ says Vimy MP, adding it ‘came maybe even a year ago’
Reaction from at least one of the Laval-area’s Liberal MPs was quick earlier this week following news of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to resign the Liberal Party leadership, to step aside as prime minister, and to prorogue Parliament until a new party leader is chosen.
Parliament prorogued
“This morning I advised the Governor General that we need a new session of Parliament,” Trudeau said last Monday morning from the steps of the PM’s temporary official residence at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa. “She has granted this request and the House will now be prorogued until March 24.”
“This country deserves a real choice in the next election,” Trudeau added, noting he had asked the president of the Liberal Party of Canada to initiate measures leading towards the next election. Trudeau said it had become clear to him that if he had to fight internal battles, he could not be the best option in an election.
‘Right thing,’ says Koutrakis
“The prime minister did the right thing,” Vimy Liberal MP Annie Koutrakis said in a phone interview with The Laval News minutes after the announcement.
She said she advised her constituency association caucus members last week of her decision to join other elected Liberal MPs in publicly recommending to the prime minister that he should step aside.
Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while speaking at the Château Royal in Chomedey last year. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Newsfirst Multimedia)
“And many of my colleagues agreed with me,” she continued. “So, even though today is a bittersweet day for me, it was the right thing for the prime minister to do.
“My hope was that he would have come to that conclusion earlier,” said Koutrakis. “But at the same time, we needed to respect the fact that it was his decision to make and he chose to do it today, and we look forward to what comes next.”
‘Good of our country’
“It wasn’t easy for me to come out and ask for him to step down,” added Koutrakis. “But for the good of our country, for the good of our party, not any one person is bigger than the country and the party. He had to do the right thing.”
She said a meeting held last Monday afternoon by the Liberal Party of Canada’s national caucus would set off the internal mechanisms for the eventual choice of new party leader.
She was non-committal in terms of who she might be favoring at this early stage as the Liberals’ new leader. “I think there are many people within government who would make good leadership candidates, and I believe there are also quite a few from outside the caucus that would be interested,” she said.
Seeks a healthy debate
In the meantime, she suggested the process for choosing a new party leader should be positive. “I think that it’s healthy to have that kind of conversation and debate. I think it will allow Canadians to see what the choices are.”
As for Justin Trudeau’s legacy as prime minister, she said Trudeau “will be viewed kindly by history as a very consequential prime minister. But every leader has an expiry date. And unfortunately what we heard from Canadians is that the expiry date came maybe even a year ago. But, like I said, it was his decision to make and his alone and he made it today.”
Vimy Liberal MP Annie Koutrakis is seen here in 2019 when she first ran for federal office. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
While saying she hadn’t yet been formally approached by any potential leadership candidates seeking her support, Koutrakis acknowledged she had recently had “conversations with leadership hopefuls, but they have not openly asked me to support or to endorse any of them.”
Koutrakis’ election concerns
With an election call now just a matter of time, Koutrakis, who will be seeking her third term, said she has already begun putting her campaign team into place. “I am actively looking for my campaign office. We want to make sure that my constituents can continue to have faith in me and my ability to serve them.
“And I hope that they recognize that I’m a hard worker, and that I ran not because of status or status but that I ran because I’m not afraid of work and to roll up my sleeves to work for them. I hope that my constituents feel and recognize that and hopefully whenever the next election comes, they will allow me to continue serving them.”
No response from El-KhouryThe Laval News also reached out to Laval-Les Îles Liberal MP Fayçal El-Khoury for his reaction to the announcement last Monday. El-Khoury was unable to respond to us be deadline as he was about to board an airline flight in Florida early last Monday afternoon.
