“Quebecers agree that Legault’s government must focus on the real problems of the province’s health system,” said CDVQ spokesperson Valérie Gallant. “The irony is that if provincial regulators accepted vaping as a tool, there would be public health benefits. We visited cities and towns in Ontario and Quebec to educate, empower and engage. The results are unanimous: let’s save our flavours.”

In a new survey by the CDVQ and Rights4Vapers, when asked to prioritize 10 different issues affecting the province’s healthcare system, one in three Quebec residents (33 per cent) ranked access to health services as their highest priority, compared to one per cent who ranked nicotine use by minors as their highest priority. One in three (34 per cent) ranked underage nicotine use as the lowest priority.

“Flavours are essential for adult smokers,” Gallant said. “It’s dissociating vaping from smoking. We want everyone to understand that flavours are fundamental to making vaping an effective tobacco harm reduction tool.”

Despite constant threats of flavour bans, nicotine restrictions and tax increases, as well as a persistent misinformation campaign, Canadian adults who are smoking aren’t getting discouraged in their fight to keep vaping products available, accessible and affordable from coast to coast.

“Our survey revealed that Quebecers consider vaping to be a significantly less harmful alternative to smoking,” said Maria Papaioannoy, spokesperson for Rights4Vapers, one of Canada’s vaping rights organizations. “The problem’s that we have governments, and other publicly funded organizations, that continue to put obstacles in the way, and spread inaccurate information about the harm reduction capacity of vaping.”

Opinions and attitudes of Quebecers toward vaping are supported by recent academic and scientific studies, which show that vaping is a less harmful alternative than smoking.

Public health authorities around the world have made it clear that vaping can be an effective tool in helping smokers quit. However, that’s if the right regulatory and societal frameworks are in place.

translated by Alec Brideau

L’article A Survey in Favour of Vaping est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

The medical staff could visually monitor the beneficiaries, and listen to what’s happening in their room, if necessary.

AQDR

President of the Association québécoise de défense des droits des personnes retraitées for Laval and the Laurentides (AQDR), Pierre Lynch, doesn’t say he’s against that measure, which could represent an invasion of privacy. Yet, he remains cautious about how that will be put into practice.

“My opinion is divided,” he said. “First, we know that there is a labour shortage, and at some point, some actions will have to be automated to make things more efficient. In that way, installing cameras in bedrooms isn’t a bad thing. On the other hand, the user must have given his authorization to put it into operation, and that he/she himself is able to decide whether to put it into operation or not.

Clarification needed

As for the management of this tool the government wants to put in place, Lynch raises a few points, which, in his opinion, should be regulated to avoid possible abuses.

“The use of cameras is a matter of personal and individual needs,” Lynch said. “It shouldn’t be treated as a collective gesture, but as an individual one. For people with a loss of autonomy, or more vulnerable, it would be important that the option isn’t only discussed with the patient, but also with family members.”

Privacy

When it comes to installing cameras in a place as private as a bedroom, the question of privacy is undoubtedly raised.

“The living environment in which the individual lives is HIS/HER living environment,” insisted Lynch. “In CHSLDs, the cameras inside the patient’s rooms are for prevention, We know the falls are on the rise. Now, we can install equipment for surveillance, but the use of the equipment must be authorized by the occupant of the room, and the members of the family.”

Possible abuses

“If an establishment transgresses the will of one of its patients, it will have to answer for its actions and put itself in a position to be prosecuted,” specified Lynch.

As for the CISSS de Laval, it’s approving those new measures, and would like to ensure those practices will be well supervised.

“The CISSS of Laval is in favor of installing cameras in the rooms of residents in CHSLDs and in elderly’s homes,” said Marie-Ève Despatie-Gagnon, spokesperson for the CISSS of Laval. “The installation of cameras in the rooms represents a solution through technology that supports the medical team, and allows better interventions with residents.”

Despatie-Gagnon also specifies that legal consent must be provided to the CISSS of Laval by residents or their families, if they’re unable to do so. Also, the project will be offered to the beneficiaries, who will have the choice to accept it or not.

The CISSS of Laval says it won’t sell the images or the data collected by the cameras.

translated by Alec Brideau

L’article Cameras to Watch the Elderly est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

“Dad and I started together,” Polichronis proudly shared. “We bought the snack bar in 1988.”

The man, who stood out from his colleagues, was awarded the prize, disputed between 285 businesses. Patate 2000 collected, by the same token, more than 2,200 of the 25,000 votes counted from across Quebec.

The irony of that story is that Polichronis could have won the competition last year as well. However, he didn’t participate.

“Last year, we didn’t take part, and still had collected enough votes,” he said. “So, this year, we were invited to submit our application.”

By submitting their vote, customers of the winning snack bar had a chance to win $5,000 in cash. It’s Denis Desmarais who’s been declared the lucky winner of the prize.

Reasons why people voted for Patate 2000 are the rigor with which they’ve always served the best products, their diligence in serving their customers during the pandemic, and their contribution to weather the storm caused by the latter by serving free hot dogs to essential workers.

Polichronis wants to thank his loyal team, on whom he’s been able to count for years: Bob, Isabelle, Singh and the promoter of special events Cederic.

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L’article A Winning Laval Snack Bar est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

This 12-minute production featuring two women and a man was put online in June 2021 on Pornhub’s website, while the 22-year-old aspiring deputy was campaigning at the municipal level for Parti Laval – Team Michel Trottier, as candidate in Laval-des-Rapides’s riding.

Reached by phone, Fiola, shaken, first denied the facts, and claimed not to have given her approval for the said video, before falling back on her lawyer. Still, the photos are unequivocal. Although the woman wears a prom mask in the photos and in the video of the XXX site, it’s tattoos that will have betrayed her.

Political background

Fiola is not new in politics, participating in her third electoral campaign. She ran for municipal elections in 2017 and 2021.

At the age of 16, she joined the PQ. She will make a slight detour to the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) before returning with the party she started with.

Former leader of Parti Laval, Michel Trottier, now a Liberal candidate in Sainte-Rose, is literally flabbergasted.

“Never I would have thought that,” he said. “We always checked the candidates who presented themselves for us. Fiola was a potentially winning candidate for us. She lost the election by just 62 votes.”

And if he had known at the time, would he have made her one of his candidates?

“No way,” Trottier assured. “Obviously, this was not the kind of candidate we were looking for to represent the citizens of Laval.”

Contacted twice, the press spokesperson of the PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, had to come back to us. At the time of writing this article, the Courrier Laval News has still not heard back from him on it.

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L’article A PQ candidate in Laval in Trouble est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

Elections are always an opportunity for the various organizations to send their grievances to the parties presenting themselves. The ATCL is no exception to the rule. The OBNL (non-profit organisation) has sent a press release in which appears an exhaustive list of its demands for the next mandate.

“We want the candidates of the six ridings to learn about the projects we’re defending, and commit to supporting sustainable mobility if elected,” said Nicolas Lemire, president of the ATCL.

Among the requests, the ambitious development of a structuring transport network deployed throughout the municipality. The ATCL board of directors even argues that the city is ready for a more developed public transport network that would serve its entire territory. Also according to the association, the budget allocated for public transport should equal the budget allocated to the maintenance of Laval’s road network.

A metro line, light metro or tramway crossing the island from East to West, and connecting to downtown, is also part of the requests sent to the six candidates of the different parties. Such an initiative regarding the public transport network would consolidate the development of the city, and change transport habits of Laval residents, according to what the OBNL’s board of directors suggests.

The ATCL also expects a favorable response to its proposal to extend the orange line to downtown Laval, as well as for the expressways it would like to see erected on the entire road network of its territory.

“The provincial government is an essential player through its support for various public transport projects,” Lemire concluded. “From an ecological transition perspective, candidates must show it’s a priority for them, as it is for us.”

translated by Alec Brideau

L’article It’s ATCL’s Turn to Lengthen its Requests est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

For the past few months, all politicians and merchants have been telling consumers the importance of buying local. With inflation and labour shortage crises, made worse by the pandemic, every country is promoting local consumption.

However, it can be very hard to properly identify, especially in grocery stores, the origin of food. Sometimes, even misleading information is displayed.

translated by Alec Brideau

L’article Buying Local: A Nightmare est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.