Author: Stéphane St-Amour

Despite a slump recorded last month, the residential construction industry has been doing very well since the start of the year in Laval. As of July 31, the foundations of 1,508 housing units had been sunk into Laval soil, up 13 per cent compared to the 1,334 housing units started during the same period last year. The city-region stands out from the four other geographic sectors of the greater metropolitan area, which are 21 per cent behind the housing starts recorded a year earlier. Montreal, the North Shore and the South Shore, as well as Vaudreuil-Soulanges – for its portion…

Less than three weeks before the start of the elections, Prime Minister and leader of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), François Legault, was in Laval yesterday to present Céline Haytayan as a candidate in Laval-des-Rapides’s riding. Working for more than 20 years in economic development, including 14 with Montréal International, a supraregional organization responsible for attracting foreign investment, Haytayan was recruited by the multinational Ubisoft, where she holds the position of Director of International Corporate Affairs. “It’s an important addition for us and our economic team,” said Legault, insisting on his “obsession” for economy. Haytayan described herself as a “woman…

Abandoned for more than 30 years, the Old Penitentiary of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul will be transferred to the Canada Lands Company (CLC) by 2024, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) announced last month. Once the transfer completed to the federal Crown corporation, it will initiate discussions with stakeholders interested in the redevelopment of this heritage site. “[…] the CLC will be mandated to either develop the site itself, or sell it at fair market value,” said the office of the Liberal member of Alfred-Pellan, Angelo Iacono. “It remains obvious that the future owners will have, on those five hectares, enough to revitalize…

Except for highway rights-of-way, it will no longer be permitted to build new gas stations in Laval. “No one will have full rights to build a gas station anymore,” said Mayor of Laval Stéphane Boyer at the last municipal assembly. “We think there are already enough like that on our territory, and anyway, we are going in another direction.” That intervention, during an exchange with a citizen during the question period preceding the adoption of the Urban Planning Code (UPC), was greeted by a round of applause in the council chamber. Adopted on July 12, the UPC would only become…

The eastern sector of Laval would apparently become a hub for film and television production. In a recent meeting, the municipal council adopted two resolutions in the hope of concretizing the project to set up a Cité du cinema on the land located in the south-west axis of avenue Marcel-Villeneuve and rue de l’Harmonie, in Saint-François. Zoning and Promise to Purchase After starting the rezoning change process in order to accommodate “a world-class cinema complex”, the elected officials present at the meeting approved by 11 votes to two the sale of two municipal lands to promoter and Laval resident Michel…

“We need to treat Laval fairly,” said Prime Minister François Legault, referring to the Eastern Réseau express métropolitain (REM) and the recently given green light for Montreal’s metro blue line extension. “There must be an equivalent in Laval and on Montreal’s south shore,” he followed during a press scrum held with Mayor Stéphane Boyer, from the communications room of Laval City Hall, on May 17. From the start, Legault had indicated that the extension of the orange line, and the development of a structuring mode of public transport on Saint-Martin’s axis were among Boyer’s priority requests during their first official…

Laval économique is relaunching its funding program in order to encourage manufacturing companies to accelerate their digital transformation. In addition to providing strategic support, the program finances 25 per cent of the equipment acquisition cost, up to $100,000, in addition to related costs for a maximum total amount of $125,000 per company. According to Mayor Stéphane Boyer, that digital shift and the resulting increased productivity are essential “to keep companies competitive and meet their workforce challenges”. Leverage Resulting from the Laval, capitale des opportunités Economic recovery plan tabled in the summer of 2020, this direct financial assistance program for the…

Notwithstanding the freezing of property tax accounts in 2021, record capital investments and the pandemic context, Laval concluded its year with a surplus of $38.2 million in its bank. Mayor Stéphane Boyer attributes this operating surplus to a tight control of expenses and a real estate activity much more sustained than expected. Those statistics are comparable to last year, where the record surpluses of $85.6 million generated in 2020 were mostly explained a special assistance of $42.3 million from Quebec in this first year of the pandemic. The surplus of $38.2 million represents 4.1 per cent of an operating budget…

Mayor Stéphane Boyer is working closely with one of the opposition groups in order to go forward with two files intimately linked to the development of eastern Laval. The revitalization of the Old Penitentiary of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul and the extension of Saint-Martin Boulevard are at the centre of that agreement concluded on April 29 between the Mouvement lavallois, Équipe Stéphane Boyer and Action Laval. “It’s a pleasure to work on realizing major projects in a spirit of collaboration,” Boyer said in a joint press release. “I’m sure that by speaking with one voice, those priority projects will progress more easily, and…

If the connection was fairly good between Prime Minister François Legault and Laval’s former Mayor Marc Demers, the same can be said with the new Mayor Stéphane Boyer. “It’s a pleasure to work with him,” Legault said from the start of an interview with the Courrier Laval  last May. While touring the regions, he was received at Laval’s City Hall by Boyer. It was a first official meeting, where the two men discussed on what they considered to be the priority files on the agenda of the municipal administration. “On big issues, we get along perfectly; we’re at the same…