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
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
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.”
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
