Action Laval leader and mayoralty candidate Sonia Baudelot joined St-Bruno city councillor David De Cotis last week in paying homage to former councillor for Saint-François Jacques St-Jean by successfully getting a motion passed in city council to rename the Saint-François Arena in honour of St-Jean.
The resolution was proposed by De Cotis and was passed unanimously. The renamed Jacques-St-Jean Arena recognizes Jacques St-Jean’s accomplishments not only as a longtime Laval city councillor, but also his longstanding devotion to promoting team sports among several generations of young Laval residents.
A well-known guy
“Even before I became involved in politics in Laval, I already knew very well the name of Mr. St-Jean,” said De Cotis. “His devotion to the people of Saint-François, as well as his involvement in the community life of his area, along with his many years of coaching young hockey players, added to his reputation as a builder. It should not be surprising that his citizens placed their confidence in him for so many years.”
‘I accomplished what I did because I believe that participation in municipal life is the best way to improve our society,’ said St-Jean
In addition to being a city councillor from 1989 to 2017, St-Jean also managed a hockey school named after him since 1975. A member of the Quebec Hockey Hall of Fame since 1996, Jacques St-Jean played a key role in training and coaching a good number of professional players, including Mike Bossy. St-Jean was also involved for many years in municipal sports and leisure activities in Laval.
Recognizing achievement
“We could not ignore his important contribution to life in our city,” said Baudelot. “It is citizens such as Mr. St-Jean who make Laval such a wonderful place to live. Underscoring the work he did by naming an arena after him was something that had to be done.”
Said Jacques St-Jean, “I welcome this honour with humility. I accomplished what I did because I believe that participation in municipal life is the best way to improve our society. Preparing youths for the world of tomorrow, while gathering citizens around worthwhile projects, was the best thing I could do.” The name change, from Saint-François Arena to Jacques-St-Jean Arena is expected to take over in the coming weeks.
Laval successfully deals with winter’s second major snowfall
The City of Laval’s public works department claims it had great success recently in cleaning up the snow that fell on Laval’s roads, streets and sidewalks during the second significant snowfall of the 2020-2021 winter season.
2nd big snowfall
According to the city, 25 centimeters of snow accumulated in Laval. The city says that crews were active for a few days afterwards tying up the loose ends and throwing down abrasives to deal with patches of ice.
“Operations are going full-speed,” city councillor for Sainte-Dorothée Ray Khalil, who managers the public works dossiers on city council, said last week.
He maintained that the city had received positive feedback from many residents on the efficiency of this snow removal operation through e-mail, social media and the city’s 3-1-1 phone line.
New snow removal gear
The city recently purchased 18 new sidewalk tractor plows, some of which were put into action during the snowfall. Laval’s snow clearning operations can be followed digitally through the website neige.laval.ca. A special app for iOS and Android can also be downloaded from app sites, and the city operates an interactive map of snow removal operations at appneigelaval.laval.ca.
City of Laval defers tax payments to June 16 and Sept. 15
Given the current economic hardship being faced by many homeowners, City of Laval executive-committee vice-president Stéphane Boyer has announced that the city has decided to defer tax payments – normally due in March and June – to June and September.
According to a statement issued by the city last week, the first payment now will come due on June 16, while the second payment will be due on Sept. 15.
‘We are aware that the pandemic is producing terrible consequences for many families,’ says executive-committee vice-president Stéphane Boyer
“We are aware that the pandemic is producing terrible consequences for many families,” Boyer said in a statement, while adding that a tax freeze announced last fall is also among the measures the city is implementing to take into account the financial hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Support from city
Boyer said the additional help will offer some concrete support “that will allow the people of Laval to benefit from several months of respite in order to better plan their budgets in the context of their situations. We also wanted to offer a helping hand to our business owners who are experiencing cash-flow problems while waiting for the resumption of economic activities.” According to the city, tax bills will be sent out to property owners on Feb. 16. Last year, the two tax payments were also deferred to Sept. 1 2020 at the latest. Additional information on property tax payments to the city can be obtained on the City of Laval’s website: www.laval.ca.
