Floods are on everyone’s mind right now. My heart goes out to people in Rigaud, Ile Mercier and Ile Bizard,who were ordered to evacuate. Also, there are many homes in Ste. Anne’s, Pierrefonds, Laval and Dorval whose homes are flooded.
Mayor Denis Coderre just called a state of emergency in Montreal after three dikes collapsed in the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough near Rivieres des Prairies. There have been 221 homes evacuated so far.
There are 400 soldiers on duty in Quebec now to help fill sandbags. Another 800 are on their way.
Laval police are also helping to handle the emergency situation as I outlined in my story the Suburban.
In last week’s Suburban, I also wrote about the Crawford Park School consultation, bridge frustrations and an entrepreneur event and several other police operations in Laval.
Here are all the stories:
Crawford Park School consultation underway again (C, May 3, pA9)
Lachine, LaSalle, Mercier Bridge Construction (C, May3, pA19)
Laval Joins Relay for Life June 10 (L, May 3, pA1)
Public Senior Residences Hold Bazaars Next Weekend (L, May 3, pA13)
Four Police Services Cooperate in Synergie Operation (L, May 3, pA13)
Police spokespeople attend training last week (L, May 3, pA14)
Juliette Brun headlines Second Annual Entrepreneur Celebration (L, May 3, pA15)
I have more stories than usual in last week’s Suburban. Most of my stories are in the West Island and Laval issues. I’m particularly impressed with the first one about the event Wednesday night.
Inspirational women raise money for women shelter (WI,Apr26,pA6)
Lachine transfers human resources to Mtl (WI,Apr26,pA9)
On Rock faces incredible use surge (WI,Apr26,pA14)
Jean-Pierre Menard to speak to CSSS Laval (L,Apr26,pA3)
Demers to pitch Laval (L,Apr27,pA3)
Police donate $46,000 to trauma victims
Emergency crews on standby for flood (Laval, April 19, A1),
Children in Pierrefonds celebrate Montreal (WI, April 19, A6)
UPS to expand Lachine plant (WI, April 19, A11)
Backyard shed thieves caught red handed (Laval, April 19, A1)
Laval to benefit from Plattsburgh Montreal (Laval, April 19, A3)
Two of my stories are in the City Edition of the Suburban this week.
On page 3, “Montreal council decisions affect LaSalle” covers automobile purchases, water pumping station delays, and other infrastructure upgrades.
On page 7, “Battle of Atlantic Ceremony honours vets,” covers Legion Branch 212’s recent activities, including their annual lunch for veterans.
There are also many other important stories including: a letter from Quebec Health Professional Students’ Roundtable, Robert Frank’s report about Lester B. Pearson School Board breaking Quebec privacy laws and Stephanie Azran’s report about Laval’s decision to avoid working with individuals or firms with convictions or lawsuits against the city.
Laval paid $3,334.61 to Laval-des-Rapides councillor Pierre Anthian on January 22.
The figure covered reimbursements for research expenses costs originally denied by the city and reported on in the Suburban last April.
This is a great relief after a year of sacrifices for my family and wrestling with the City,” said Anthian. “I have always believed that a judge would be more discerning than officials could be when they act as both judge and interested party [since they are responsible for saving the city money].”
Anthian took the city to small claims court after bureaucrats refused to reimburse him for costs related to distribution and printing of press releases and 10,000 flyers sent to citizens so that he could inform them about water breakdowns, gas leaks, smog alerts and traffic hold-ups in their area.
It also covered court costs and interest.
Anthian says that bureaucrats were biased against his claim because of his decisions to pay homeless people to clear snow and for his desire to see the city adopt dynamic intelligent parking.
These two issues annoyed the leadership of the city so senior officials could no longer decide fairly,” he said. “A neutral mediator has enough experience and judgment to avoid being blinded by emotion.”
Anthian is happy that the courts have forced the city to pay him and hopes his experience will encourage elected officials to question bureaucrats more often.
This judgement gives me a double victory as Mayor Demers has a blind trust in officials and lets them do whatever they choose without ever putting their actions into question.”
Elected officials questioning bureaucrats should not be seen as a public display of distrust, says Anthian. It should be seen as asking for a second opinion to make sure that nothing was missed in the initial analysis.
Note: This article was published on page 1 of the Laval edition of the Suburban yesterday.
Independent Laval councillors Michel Trottier and Pierre Anthian are cooperating to create a new political party in time for the next elections in November 2017.
“If we do nothing, we’re going to arrive in 2017 with only one party as we were at the time of Vaillancourt,” said Trottier. “I think that Laval citizens need a choice. When you look at the current situation in Laval, there is the Mouvement Lavallois [Marc Demers’ party] that is very well organized, but there’s nothing else. There’s Action Laval that has one councillor and no membership.”
For now, Trottier will function as the leader, but they’re looking for something with more experience to take on that role permanently.
“Michel and me, we have lots of good volunteer energy and we make good councillors but becoming mayor requires someone with more experience and a good history of leading lots of people,” said Anthian. “I’m a good soldier, but I’m not a general.”
Trottier applied to reserve the name “Parti Laval” on November 17. He has until May 17 to officially establish the party with a list of at least 100 members, a board of directors and a schedule of activities.
Trottier says that he, Anthian and 13 local leaders will meet on January 19 to finalize a board of directors and establish a calendar for the next few months. They already have 100 people who have signed on as members, and they’re planning to hold a general meeting in February.
Political operative Emilio Migliozzi floated the idea of a party called Evolution Laval on his Twitter feed last month, but he hasn’t taken any official action since then and says he’ll stay in the background until he sees how things evolve over the next few months.
Independent councillors Alain Lecompte and Jean Coupal are also holding off until they see a new leader and stronger vision for the party.