With files from Robert Frank<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
We look exactly the same as we did in the days of Vaillancourt,\u201d said Anthian. \u201cI see what\u2019s happening in Montreal and it\u2019s dynamic and active and everyone is speaking.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Anthian\u2019s motion has six precursors. Four make his points that Laval councillors don\u2019t speak while citizens and media are watching, that dynamism and transparency are missing and that the administration encourages real discussion to take place in caucus rather than during City Hall debates. Two are counterpoints about the openness and ready discussion that takes place in Montreal.<\/p>\n
The motion itself reads:<\/p>\n
Il est propos\u00e9 que les conseillers de ce pr\u00e9sent conseil assistent au conseil de la ville de Montr\u00e9al pour faire une saine comparaison de son fonctionnement et inciter l\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eat d\u2019une participation active aux discussions publiques.<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Roughly, it reads “It is proposed that the councillors of this present council attend a City of Montreal council session to make a clear comparison with how it functions and to encourage interest in actively participating in public discussions.”<\/p>\n
In a separate discussion David de Cotis made it clear that he doesn\u2019t agree with the implications behind Anthian\u2019s motion.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t necessarily agree with the allegations that are made against Marc Demers\u2019 party,\u201d said de Cotis. \u201cIt\u2019s a very democratic party. We always discuss every decision that we make in caucus. All our city council questions are being broadcast live on the web. Marc Demers decided to implement in 2014 that all contracts over $24,000 would be passed to city council for its approval. In the past just the executive committee had to approve these contracts before they would be given out, but now the executive committee must recommend them to city council which then gets to decide whether to vote for or against them. We\u2019re going to great strides to show that we\u2019re a transparent and democratic administration. We are consulting with Repensons Laval<\/em>, the biggest consultation in the history of the city. Now we are embarking on the urban development plan consultation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 Anthian. \u201cI see what\u2019s happening […]<\/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_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Anthian proposes Montreal Field Trip","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hundredmilecircle","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-4pC","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16404,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/laval-refuses-anthian-expenses\/","url_meta":{"origin":16964,"position":0},"title":"Laval bureaucrats refuse Anthian expenses","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"March 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Laval-des-rapides councillor Pierre Anthian had another meeting with legal department manager Patrice F. Guay recently. Guay and Sylvain\u00a0Gouin, who became Laval\u2019s financial services manager and city municipal treasurer in January, had bad news. Laval will not pay $12,000 of $14,000 Anthian claimed in research and support expenses since he became\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Island Report"","block_context":{"text":"Island Report","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/island-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16957,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/courts-force-laval-to-pay-anthian\/","url_meta":{"origin":16964,"position":1},"title":"Courts force Laval to pay Anthian","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"March 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"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,\u201d\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":16177,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/intelligent-parking\/","url_meta":{"origin":16964,"position":2},"title":"Laval needs intelligent parking says Anthian","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"February 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Laval independent city councillor Pierre Anthian plans to hold a public consultation about intelligent parking on Tuesday, February 24 at 7 p.m. It will take place at the Ch\u00e2teau Royal, 3500, boulevard du Souvenir, right next to City Hall. Intelligent parking enables citizens to leave their cars parked on the\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":16962,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/trottier-reserves-name-for-new-party\/","url_meta":{"origin":16964,"position":3},"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":16451,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/quebec-needs-a-sunshine-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":16964,"position":4},"title":"Quebec needs a sunshine law","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"April 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"When Laval independent councillor Pierre Anthian questioned why bureaucrats deemed his research expense claims invalid, he raised two important issues about how Quebec democracy functions. To whom can a politician appeal a bureaucratic decision when the executive committee those public servants report to are all members of an opposing party?\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":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Welcome-Scan.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Welcome-Scan.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Welcome-Scan.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Welcome-Scan.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16558,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/city-ethics-office-reports-on-first-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":16964,"position":5},"title":"City ethics office reports on first year","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"May 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, Laval police reported on the first year of the city\u2019s new ethics and integrity office (Bureau d\u2019int\u00e9grit\u00e9 et d\u2019\u00e9thique de Laval or BIEL). 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