Although most desktop computers, as well as laptops, tablets and smartphones now make the change automatically, there may still be some people who will wake up surprised Sunday to see their old analogue watch is an hour behind because Daylight Saving Time kicked in earlier that morning.
DST kicks in officially at 2 am Sunday.
At that time, the clock moves forward by 60 minutes.
It will remain so until next Nov. 3 when it will fall back once again to Eastern Standard Time.
For those who are early risers because they cherish the tranquility just before the beginning of the day, the sun won’t be above the horizon before 7:15 a.m. Sunday morning.
Sunset on Sunday evening will be at 6:54 p.m.
By mid-June, the sun will be up over Laval and Montreal as early as 5:07 a.m., setting at 8:47 p.m.
Vehicle theft is leaving its mark on thousands of Canadian and Quebec households
With auto theft incidents across Quebec and Canada soaring as never before, federal Treasury Board President Anita Anand tells Newsfirst Multimedia that the Trudeau government is raising Canada Border Services Agency funding by $28 million for more stolen vehicle investigations – including some that will be using artificial intelligence (AI).
Federal Treasury Board President Anita Anand was one of the five Trudeau cabinet ministers who recently took part in the Liberal government’s National Summit on Combatting Auto Theft in Ottawa.
Anand was one of the five Trudeau cabinet ministers who recently took part in the Liberal government’s National Summit on Combatting Auto Theft in Ottawa.
The issue is impacting the portfolios of several Quebec-based cabinet ministers, including Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez, and Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
Ministers’ SUVs stolen
The New York Times reported last month in a piece looking at how Canada has become a “candy store” for car thieves that two government-issued Toyota Highlander SUVs were stolen three times in Ottawa from the current and previous justice ministers.
Auto theft is leaving its mark on thousands of Canadian households every year, particularly in urban centres. Discussions held at the summit focused on finding solutions to the growing challenge of auto theft in Canada.
Federal, provincial and municipal police have concluded that the car theft wave increasingly involves organized crime groups, who are using the proceeds of those thefts to fund other illegal activities.
In a press release, Public Safety Canada, which organized the national summit, said the gathering “advanced work to keep Canadians safe and prevent auto theft from happening, to recover vehicles that have been stolen, and to ensure the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice.”
Significant gathering, says Anand
At the conclusion of the summit, participants endorsed a Statement of Intent, committing to work together to combat auto theft, and to finalize an action plan that will be released before the end of this winter.
“The auto theft summit was significant because it brought together stakeholders from across the country, industries, border services agents, frontline police, as well as the auto manufacturers, with federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments,” said Anand.
“Never before have we had a conference like this to convene a conversation about how we can each do better to combat auto theft,” she added, noting that 54 cars were recently intercepted by the Sûreté du Québec at the Port of Montreal before they could be clandestinely exported out of the country. “That just highlights how we are making progress, but there’s much more work to do – together and individually.”
What Ottawa is doing
Recent immediate actions undertaken by the federal government to combat auto theft include:
A $28 million injection to the CBSA to conduct more investigations and examinations of stolen vehicles, as well as to enhance collaboration on investigations and intelligence sharing with partners across Canada and internationally. This would includes exploring detection technology solutions, and exploring the use of advanced analytical tools, such as artificial intelligence.
Pursuing all avenues to ban devices used to steal vehicles by copying the wireless signals for remote keyless entry, such as the Flipper Zero, which would allow for the removal of those devices from the Canadian marketplace through collaboration with law enforcement agencies.
More tools against car theft
Additionally, the government says it is using the following tools and authorities to further curb auto theft:
Establishing a means of better information sharing between local police and railway police, including through the use of advanced data tools, to identify and find stolen cars before they get to ports.
Public Safety Canada, the CBSA and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will work with partners across Canada and internationally to increase collaboration and information sharing.
Transport Canada will modernize the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to ensure they consider technological advancements to deter and prevent auto theft. The department will also work with public safety partners to identify cargo handling vulnerabilities through targeted security assessments of port facilities.
The Department of Justice Canada will examine potential amendments to the criminal code to further strengthen the legal framework related to auto theft, including by reviewing existing offences and penalties.
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) will work with Canadian companies, including the automotive industry, to develop innovative solutions to protect vehicles against theft.
Federal Treasury Board President Anita Anand launched a new initiative to promote the presence of Black public servants during the recent Black History Month.
Black public service initiative
In February during Black History Month, Anita Anand presided at the launch of a new Treasury Board of Canada initiative, an Action Plan to support Black public servants in federal government workplaces.
In Budget 2023, the Trudeau government committed an additional $45.9 million to complement initial funding in Budget 2022 for a Black mental health fund.
As a result, nearly $50 million is supporting the creation and development of the Action Plan for Black Public Servants, to establish career development programs and mental health supports for Black public servants.
Some specifics of the program:
Health Canada is receiving funding for Black-centric enhancements to the Employee Assistance Program provided to more than 90 federal departments and agencies.
The Canada School of Public Service is receiving funding to launch an executive leadership program for Black executives to support their career advancement.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) is receiving funding to provide individualized assessment, counselling and coaching services to Black public servants.
“These and future investments will continue to be guided by the lived experiences of Black public servants,” said Anand.
“We will keep working with Black public servants to address all forms of anti-Black racism and discrimination because a diverse, inclusive, safe, and rewarding public service not only benefits employees, but it also strengthens our organizations and improves our service delivery for Canadians.”
Projects sponsored by CHOC men’s collective and Collège Montmorency
Acting on behalf of CAQ women’s issues minister Martine Biron, Laval-des-Rapides MNA Céline Haytayan has announced a $450,000 grant of money from the provincial government to support two local projects designed to raise awareness of sexual and domestic violence committed primarily against women.
Local CEGEP involved
The goal of the first project (Le harcèlement sexuel, c’est NON! [No! to sexual harassment]) sponsored by Collège Montmorency, is to raise awareness among the CEGEP college’s faculty of 1,300 employees, as well as among members of the student body who may be in high-risk categories (i.e. LGBTQ).
Another goal of the program is awareness-raising and prevention in communities close to Collège Montmorency, with a focus on local.
Men’s group sponsoring
The second project (Soyez Influenceurs! (La violence conjugale… C’est l’Affaire de tous!) [Become an influencer – domestic violence is everyone’s business]) is sponsored by the male collective Carrefour d’hommes en changement (CHOC).
Its goal is to reach out to the partners of the perpetrators of domestic violence, while properly equipping them through a guide book offering safe ways to become proactive and contribute to the prevention and halting of domestic violence. As with the previous project, this one also has goals over a larger region.
“These regional initiatives were retained [as finalists] as part of the 2023-2024 season of calls for projects for awareness-raising with regards to domestic and sexual violence,” Haytayan’s office said in a statement.
Gaining understanding
“They will contribute to a better understanding these types of violence, while assisting victims, the perpetrators of violence and others in their surroundings in Laval.” In all, the CAQ government allotted $4.8 million for a total of 29 similar projects across Quebec.
The sums allotted ‘will help to counter domestic violence and sexual violence in Laval,’ says Laval-des-Rapides MNA Céline Haytayan
“The sums allotted for these two projects will help to counter domestic violence and sexual violence in Laval,” said Haytayan. “My thanks to Collège Montmorency and to the Carrefour d’hommes en changement for their initiatives and their respective contributions.”
‘A priority,’ says minister
“The fight against sexual and domestic violence is a priority of our government,” said Biron. “Acting preventively is a key so that this phenomenon ceases. I would like to thank the organizations who are hard at work in the field on this issue.”
“Everywhere in Quebec, women should be able to feel secure,” added Isabelle Lecours, MNA for Lotbinière-Frontenac, who is also parliamentary assistant to the minister for women’s issues. “I am proud that our government is devoting so much energy towards the prevention and struggle against sexual and domestic violence.”
In ex-mayor’s fading shadow, Laval takes back $60 million in skimmed sums
Laval mayor Stéphane Boyer announces that the city has reached the $60 milllion mark in funds taken back legally from overpaid contractors.
Like a ghost who puts in appearances from time to time during the day, Gilles Vaillancourt is occasionally spotted enjoying a quick meal in the fast-food court at Carrefour Laval.
But even though current Laval mayor Stéphane Boyer admits he never actually ever met the former mayor, Vaillancourt’s lingering presence is proving to be something not easily exorcised.
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. late last month.
The purpose: to close the book on the legacy Vaillancourt left after he resigned from office in 2012, after nearly 40 years as mayor and as a city councillor before then.
Parti PRO got kickbacks
In the aftermath of evidence laid out by the Charbonneau Commission into public contracts corruption, the City of Laval filed a string of lawsuits against outside contractors over the past 10 years, to ultimately recover $60 million in funds which had been systematically overpaid.
Left, Simon Tremblay, the City of Laval’s director of legal services, led the city’s legal efforts to recoup the $60 million. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
It was a scheme that saw a percentage kicked back to Vaillancourt’s Parti PRO des Lavallois. The city undertook 18 civil cases, garnering 13 judgments in its favour. Cases still ongoing, if successful, would bring in an additional $20 million.
After serving part of a six-year jail sentence, Vaillancourt agreed to forfeit to the the city more than $7 million in savings from Swiss and Bermuda bank accounts, as well as his luxurious condo on Île Paton in the Rivière des Prairies off Chomedey, and the $36,000 annual retirement pension he would have received from the city.
As Boyer, 36, recounted to journalists, he was a university student living at home in Vimont with his parents in 2010, when former National Assembly member Vincent Auclair reported he had once been discreetly approached by Vaillancourt who offered an envelope of cash to be used in one of Auclair’s election campaigns.
A change of culture
It cost the relatively small sum of $6 – $7 million in total for legal fees to recover the $60 million in stolen taxpayers’ dollars, noted Mayor Stéphane Boyer. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
Boyer insisted that the culture of corruption that reigned in Laval over the 23 years Vaillancourt was mayor has been broken. “Laval really started over from zero in 2013,” he told journalists, alluding to that year’s election when a virtually completely new slate of councillors came onto city council.
“It took time and we had to rebuild the administration, revise our way of doing things, our procedures in our by-laws,” he added. “But I think there was this renewal politically as well as administratively, which allowed us to say that the [old] system was done away with because all the players were changed.”
During a question-and-answer exchange, The Laval News pointed out that there remains a significant cluster of Laval residents who still speak admiringly of Vaillancourt, citing his accomplishments (the orange Metro line extension, the Cosmodôme, extensive residential, commercial and industrial development) while he was in office.
Vaillancourt/Trump comparison
“There’s people in Laval who admire Trump: what can I do about it?” Boyer replied somewhat sardonically, while noting that it cost the relatively small sum of $6 – $7 million in total for legal fees to recover the $60 million in stolen taxpayers’ dollars.
Former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt.
As for money that continues to come in (there are five more cases against former contractors pending), the City of Laval created a special fund in 2017 (the Fonds Place-du-Souvenir), which provides targeted financial support for youths from Laval up to age 17, who are regarded as being “at-risk.”
Some of the clawed-back funds also go towards purchasing green and forested areas of Laval for permanent conservation, as well as for making cash payments for goods and services in order to avoid adding to the City of Laval’s debts.
Opposition reaction
One of the City of Laval’s two opposition parties, Action Laval, isn’t altogether happy with how the city is spending the recuperated money. They believe it would have been better spent on tax relief.
“This year we got an increase of 4.8 per cent in our municipal taxes, and that’s unacceptable,” said Action Laval city councillor for Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Paolo Galati. “Especially with the fact that we just recuperated all this money, it could have been a way to balance the budget.”
Laval startup gets $200,000 loan, with help from Vimy MP Koutrakis who is Parliamentary Secretary to CED minister
Vimy Liberal MP Annie Koutrakis, who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Canada Economic Development minister, has announced a repayable loan of $200,000 by Ottawa to RNA Technologies & Therapeutics Inc., a startup biotech firm that was launched with help from the Laval-based Quebec Biotechnology Innovation Centre (CQIB).
Support from Canada Economic Development (CED) enabled RNA T&T to acquire automated equipment to streamline its productivity and increase its production capacity. CED is the key federal partner in Quebec’s regional economic development.
Focused economic development
With its 12 regional business offices, CED accompanies businesses, supporting organizations and all regions across Quebec for their economic development. The funds were granted under CED’s Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program.
The program targets entrepreneurs, leveraging innovation to grow their businesses and enhance their competitiveness, as well as regional economic stakeholders helping to create an entrepreneurial environment conducive to innovation and growth for all across all regions.
In Quebec, SMEs account for 99.7 per cent of the province’s businesses and 50 per cent of its GDP.
From the left, Perry Niro, CEO of the CQIB, Vimy Liberal MP Annie Koutrakis and RNA T&T CEO and president Claude LeDuc are seen here following the loan announcement made at the CQIB on Cartier Blvd. in Laval.
Messenger RNA production
Founded in July 2022, RNA T&T is an innovative business specializing in the design, production, and purification of intermediate carrier molecules called messenger RNAs (mRNAs).
Incubated at the CQIB on Cartier Blvd., RNA T&T produces and sells intermediate mRNA molecules in small and large quantities, in addition to implementing a research program for its clients to develop new therapies, obtain regulatory approvals for them and ensure intellectual property protection.
RNA T&T’s staff includes experts in the RNA field with combined experience totalling over three decades in in vitro transcription (IVT) therapeutic RNA synthesis.
Helping businesses grow
“The Government of Canada recognizes and supports innovative businesses and organizations that are a source of pride in their communities,” CED said in a statement regarding its loan to RNA T&T.
“Our government is committed to investing to ensure our SMEs remain competitive and innovative,” said Koutrakis.
“Helping a business grow and innovate so it can enable Canadians to benefit from an important technology is a priority for our government,” added Koutrakis. “That is why we are supporting this promising project by RNA T&T, which is a wonderful example of success after two years of incubation at the CQIB.”
The Quebec Biotechnology Innovation Centre (CQIB) on Cartier Blvd. has helped to “incubate” many biotech startups, including RNA Technologies & Therapeutics.
Progress in just 18 months
“Thanks to the CQIB’s incubation structure, RNA T&T has made significant advances over its first 18 months of existence,” said Claude LeDuc, president and CEO of the firm.
With a 36-year track record of international experience and accomplishments in both private and Fortune 500 companies, LeDuc has been a key player in the success of various organizations, including many biotech startups.
He has led teams through various development stages, from early R&D and preclinical programs to successful market launches. The companies he has helped bring into being include BioSyntech, Skeltex Technologies, Axcellon Biopolymers, MRM Proteomics, RNA T&T and Ortho Regenerative Technologies.
Successful fundraising
At the same time, LeDuc has become known for his exceptional capital-gathering abilities. As the CEO of multiple start-ups, he raised more than $70 million in equity and debenture notes in private and public settings.
“We want to highlight the importance of government assistance programs such as this one from CED, which play a crucial role in supporting and funding the rapid growth of technological SMEs such as RNA T&T,” LeDuc said regarding this latest venture. “We express our deep gratitude for their ongoing support.”
“This investment in one of the businesses accompanied by our incubator confirms the role the CQIB plays as a seedbed for life sciences businesses in Quebec,” said Perry Niro, executive-director of the CQIB. “We are particularly pleased with RNA T&T’s progress as it completes its incubation process.”
The current issue of the Laval News, volume 32-05, published on March 6th, 2024. Covering Laval local news, politics, and sports. (Click on the image to read the paper.)
Front page of The Laval News, March 6th, 2024 issue.
A still image from security camera footage at the Curé Labelle Blvd. car dealership captured the moment the suspects drove off.
A Mercedes Benz reported as stolen in a spectacular vehicle theft incident at a Curé Labelle used car lot last week has been recovered by police in Toronto.
Working in conjunction with the Laval Police, the Ontario Provincial Police found the stolen Mercedes during the night from Feb. 15 to 16.
According to car lot owner Marc Fournier, the OPP collared the thieves who were allegedly about to commit another theft at a Toronto business.
After recovering the car, the police reportedly had a good deal of cleaning to do on its interior as the suspects left behind a lot of trash, including merchandise with security locks and seals, but also ignition keys apparently for other stolen vehicles.
The car lot owner reported that the returned vehicle had 3,000 additional kilometres on it after being returned. The windows had also been tinted and the engine oil had been changed.
TVA Nouvelles identified a suspect arrested in Toronto as Mohammed Qasim Chowdhury. He faces charges of car theft, possession of stolen property, armed assault and dangerous driving.
Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. says it has placed certain employees, including top executives, on mandatory unpaid leave effective February 23 in connection with a rapid cost cutting and restructuring effort, but also as a result of the company’s previously disclosed ongoing financial concerns.
The Laval-based consumer health and wellness products maker, whose shares were trading on NASDAQ at 0.41 cents on Feb. 27, said in a statement that among the employees placed on mandatory leave are Michael Cammarata, president and CEO, and John Wirt, executive vice president and chief legal officer.
Neptune announced last December that NASDAQ had served notice of its intention to delist the company’s common shares because Neptune Wellness was not in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement for continued listing.
The company said at that time that it intended to appeal the determination.
A 23-year-old Laval man got slapped with a $3,015 fine recently after being stopped by SQ officers who recorded his speed on southbound Autoroute 15 as being 209 km/h – more than twice the posted limit.
According to the SQ, officers locked onto the driver around 1:30 a.m. on a weeknight and it took them a while to finally catch up in Montreal where he was pulled over along with a passenger.
An examination of the driver’s license found that it was no longer valid, resulting in immediate seizure of the vehicle for 30 days and a fine of $1,076.
In addition, the ticket for exceeding the speed limit by more than 100 km/h came to $1,939.
The driver then had 24 demerit points slapped onto his record.
A nearly three-year investigation by the Sûreté du Québec into a Laval couple’s alleged involvement in drug and weapons trafficking culminated recently when the provincial police force arrested the pair.
Officers with the Montreal Police (SPVM), the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) provided assistance to the SQ when they executed an arrest warrant issued for Maxime Gagene-Charet, 29, and Jenny Lachance-Valiquette, age 26.
The SQ recently announced that they were sending reinforcements to certain outlying regions of Quebec because of an upsurge of organized criminal activity there, including gang-related weapons and drug dealing.
