{"id":1268,"date":"2012-11-20T11:55:46","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T16:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=1268"},"modified":"2012-11-20T11:55:46","modified_gmt":"2012-11-20T16:55:46","slug":"laval-mayor-gilles-vaillancourt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/laval-mayor-gilles-vaillancourt\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt Resigned"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday, November 9, Gilles Vaillancourt resigned after 23 years as mayor of Laval and almost 40 years in municipal politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I am speaking to everyone who lives in Laval,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m speaking to the people who have supported, encouraged and trusted me throughout my political career and to all others that I have the honour and responsibility to represent. I\u2019m speaking to you all today for the last time as Mayor of Laval. I have decided to step down and to retire from politics permanently.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor denied all wrongdoing in the allegations he is facing. \u201cAs for me, I would like to assure the people of Laval that I have always acted in their interest thinking first and foremost of their wellbeing and that of their family.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t mention the Parti du Ralliement Officiel (PRO) des Lavallois<\/em> political party, but instead talked about the changes he has seen in Laval since he began his career in municipal politics only eight years after 14 smaller municipalities were combined into one city.<\/p>\n

Among the successes that Vaillancourt mentioned were: maintaining 30% of the city\u2019s land agricultural; holding a better Standard and Poor\u2019s Rating than the Government of Quebec and Hydro Quebec [this was true in May but changed in July when Standard and Poor\u2019s gave Hydro Quebec\u2019s debentures an AA minus rating which matches their rating for Laval; both are higher than the Government of Quebec\u2019s A plus rating]; three metro stations and a new bridge; a University of Montreal campus; and excellent finances, with a residential tax rate that\u2019s 2.5% lower than inflation and the ability to pay cash from its operating budget for $50 million in infrastructure renewal annually.<\/p>\n

As he put it: \u201ctoday Laval is no longer the bedroom community of the early days. It has progressed quickly on the road to success becoming the third largest city in Quebec and the strongest growth centre in the Montreal Metropolitan Community notable by its vitality, its competitiveness and by its quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

To see the English version of the speech posted by The Gazette, refer to https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JD3NMOoghbM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Note: This article appeared in the North & East version of the Suburban on Thursday, November 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, November 9, Gilles Vaillancourt resigned after 23 years as mayor of Laval and almost 40 years in municipal politics. \u201cToday I am speaking to everyone who lives in Laval,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m speaking to the people who have supported, encouraged and trusted me throughout my political career and to all others that I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-that-matter","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-ks","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1270,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/laval-city-council-in-turmoil\/","url_meta":{"origin":1268,"position":0},"title":"Laval City Council in Turmoil","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"November 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The goings on in Laval City Council have been hard to follow. The Latest: A\u00a0race to become mayor will happen after all. The Gazette and the CBC\u00a0has reported that Alexandre Duplessis and Jacques St-Jean will compete for mayor. To read the story, refer to http:\/\/www.montrealgazette.com\/news\/Next+mayor+Laval+city+councillors+headtohead\/7583814\/story.html The former party offices are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics That Matter"","block_context":{"text":"Politics That Matter","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/cultural-identity\/politics-that-matter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16962,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/trottier-reserves-name-for-new-party\/","url_meta":{"origin":1268,"position":1},"title":"Trottier reserves name for new party","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"January 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"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. \u201cIf we do nothing, we\u2019re going to arrive in 2017 with only one party as we were at the time of Vaillancourt,\u201d said Trottier. \u201cI\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hundred Mile Circle"","block_context":{"text":"Hundred Mile Circle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/hundredmilecircle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3066,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/laval-mayoralty-candidates-debate-coops\/","url_meta":{"origin":1268,"position":2},"title":"Laval Mayoralty Candidates Debate Coops","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"November 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Seven said they\u2019d be there, but in the end, only four candidates for Laval mayor participated in a debate about cooperatives last week. The event was organized by the Regional Development Cooperative of Montreal-Laval (http:\/\/www.cdr.coop\/), the Federation of Inter-municipal Housing Cooperatives (FECHIMM) (http:\/\/www.fechimm.coop\/english\/)\u00a0and the GRT R\u00e9seau 2000+ de Laval (http:\/\/www.reseau2000plus.qc.ca\/).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hundred Mile Circle"","block_context":{"text":"Hundred Mile Circle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/hundredmilecircle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15838,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/laval-flood-plain\/","url_meta":{"origin":1268,"position":3},"title":"Flood zone law to be set soon","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"November 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Marc Demers announced the process Laval will use to set its flood zones at the last council meeting on November 3. In the audience were several people representing 700 people whose homes lie within the official flood plain if changes aren\u2019t made. They waited four hours to hear about more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hundred Mile Circle"","block_context":{"text":"Hundred Mile Circle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/hundredmilecircle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16964,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/anthian-proposes-montreal-field-trip\/","url_meta":{"origin":1268,"position":4},"title":"Anthian proposes Montreal Field Trip","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"January 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"With files from Robert Frank During the council meeting last night (January 12), Pierre Anthian, the municipal councillor of Laval-des-Rapides made a motion that Laval city councillors visit their counterparts in Montreal to learn about democracy. We look exactly the same as we did in the days of Vaillancourt,\u201d said\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hundred Mile Circle"","block_context":{"text":"Hundred Mile Circle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/hundredmilecircle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16519,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/quebec-approved-lavals-flood-zone-bylaw\/","url_meta":{"origin":1268,"position":5},"title":"Quebec approved Laval\u2019s flood zone bylaw","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"April 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Quebec approved Laval\u2019s new flood zone bylaw M.R.C.L. 4.20 earlier this month. Laval Mayor Marc Demers called a press conference last Wednesday morning, April 1, to announce the good news. Correcting the situation for citizens penalized by the old flood levels was one of our first promises the day of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hundred Mile Circle"","block_context":{"text":"Hundred Mile Circle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/hundredmilecircle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DemersApril2015","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DemersApril2015-136x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}