For its part, the Fraternité des policiers de Laval came out publicly, first to direct its thoughts to the victims, families, as well as students and staff of the CEGEP, having lived through horrible hours in being confined after the discharge of gunshotsthat occurred on the evening of Nov. 11.

It also mentioned “the great work, commitment and availability of its members during the large-scale operation deployed”.

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L’article Shooting at Montmorency: Investigation Progressing, Police Wondering est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

Bois de l’Équerre now has 2.65 km of trails that can be used by everyone. Thanks to these wider paths made of stone dust, people with reduced mobility can more easily visit the rich ecological environment.

That new trail is part of Greater Montreal’s green and blue network, and was made possible thanks to a financial support of $212,500 from the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC).

“The development of the trail, adapted to universal accessibility standards, is great news for the entire population of the Greater Montreal, who needs access to green spaces more than ever,” said by press release Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montreal and President of the MMC. “It will not only help prevent the degradation of natural environments by marking out traffic, but also improve the region’s resilience and quality of life of its inhabitants.”

Laval’s Mayor Stéphane Boyer also said in the press release that the trail offers users of all ages and physical conditions a way to enjoy the outdoors, by discovering the urban forest of bois de l’Équerre.

“Laval is full of exceptional natural environments, and we’re fortunate, as citizens, to be able to take advantage of them,” Boyer said. “To do it, we’re committed to highlighting them, and allowing access to them to as many people as possible.” (A.B.)

L’article New trail in the bois de l’Équerre est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

Founded in 1996, the environmental organization’s mission is to improve the quality of the environment, and promote sustainable development in Laval.

With the publication of a series of memoirs, the organization of dozens of events, and the deployment of many projects, the dynamic team can say the mission is accomplished.

“Everything I’ve done, I’ve done it for the young people,” said Guy Garand, founder and former CEO (1996-2021) of the CRE. “Today, the ball is in your court. Think about the future, because the environment is the way out of climate change.”

Notable Achievements

The CRE of Laval is one of the most important players in the environmental landscape of the third largest city in the province.

Since 1998, the CRE has been responsible for the inventory of Laval wetlands, an inventory that has made it possible to recognize the importance of preserving those natural environments at the regional and national level.

“The City hasn’t always been an example to follow in terms of the environment, but I think it’s changing,” said Stéphane Boyer, mayor of Laval. “In recent years, the percentage of protected territories has increased from three per cent to more than 12 per cent.”

To mark its anniversary, the CRE has created a historical collection of all its milestones on its website.

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L’article The CRE of Laval Celebrates its 26th Anniversary est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

Several online services had therefore been voluntarily closed in order to limit the damages against the city and its citizens.

Mayor of Laval Stéphane Boyer said last week that a certain amount of data was taken by the hackers, but that the worst had been avoided, thanks to the city’s quick response.

Today, those services are back to normal, and can therefore be used by Laval residents.

“Let’s recall that by noting a suspicious activity, the City of Laval acted quickly and proactively to secure its online services, by closing its access to citizens,” the press release mentioned.

It’s also said in that same press release that nothing seems to indicate to the City a theft of data or personal information during the cyber attack attempt.

L’article Laval’s Online Services are Back to Normal est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

In a press release, it’s stated that the online services will gradually return to normal this week. It’s therefore recommended to avoid communications with the city by using those services until then, as using a phone or meeting face-to-face with an employee are both safer ways to proceed.

Last week, Laval’s Mayor Stéphane Boyer announced that online services problems were caused by an attempted cyber attack. Several of those online services had therefore been voluntarily closed in order to limit the damages against the city and its citizens.

Boyer said last week that a certain amount of data was taken by the hackers, but that the worst had been avoided, thanks to the city’s quick response.

Activities of the Service de police de Laval (SPL), the Fire Safety Department, the Water Department, and Laval Libraries have not been interrupted.

L’article Update on the Attempted Cyber Attack est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

Boyer announced this is an attempted cyber attack against Laval’s online services. Several online services have therefore been voluntarily shut down in order to limit the damage against the city and its citizens.

Laval’s mayor says it’s around 4 p.m. on Wednesday that suspicious activities were detected online.

“A certain amount of data was taken,” Boyer said. “It’s still unclear which documents were seized by the hackers, but we believe we have prevented the worst.”

At the press conference, Boyer clarified that the source of the attack would come, according to information held for the moment, from an account of a city employee. However, he mentions his team thinks this employee would have been hacked, which would have helped in the hacking of the city’s online services.

Let’s note the activities of the Service de police de Laval (SPL), the Fire Safety Department, the Water Department, and Laval Libraries have not been interrupted.

L’article Attempted Cyber Attack Against the City of Laval est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

Boyer imagines the city of tomorrow as “a network of dense and interconnected neighbourhoods”, which will promote walking and cycling, and whose human relations “give back a sense of community to urban centres”.

Taking advantage of his years of experience in politics, two terms as a municipal councillor, and currently the mayor of Laval, Boyer offers some possible solutions to prevent the expansion of large cities.

These are in an “era where the sense of community is eroding, where cities must meet a growing number of needs, and where climate change is forcing us to rethink the ways of doing things”, informs a press release.

Let’s note that in 2016, Stéphane Boyer won the contest of Personnalité de la relève municipale de l’Union des municipalités du Québec. (J.B./IJL)

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L’article Stéphane Boyer Publishes an Essay est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

“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 tête-à-tête.

“It’s time for Laval to connect its neighbourhoods together, making it easier to travel on the territory, Mayor Boyer explained while indicating his clear preference for the deployment of an integrated east-west transport network in the neighbourhoods, instead of an extension of the REM in the right-of-way of Highway 440.

Legault agrees there’s a need to improve public transport options on the north-south and east-west axes, specifying that Quebec and Laval “were looking at different scenarios”.

“What’s important for me is that citizens have access to a variety of low-carbon transport modes,” Boyer said, recalling that 70 per cent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Laval are from the transport sector. “After, if it goes by a tram, a BRT (bus rapid transit) or metro, I think the studies will be able to guide us on the choice of technology. But, above all, it’s the citizens’s mobility that’s important.”

That being said, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in the axis of boulevards Notre-Dame/De la Concorde – in the pipeline since 2018 – remains a priority for its administration, Laval’s Mayor ensures.

As for the implementation of new reserved bus lanes, carpooling and electric cars on Highway 15 (North), the Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, will make the announcement in Laval in the upcoming weeks.

“It’s progressing, and we want the work to start this year,” Legault said in an interview with the Courrier Laval.

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L’article Public Transport: François Legault Wants to Treat Laval Fairly est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

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 above all, more quickly.”

Re-elected last November under the banner of Action Laval, The municipal councillor of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paolo Galati, agrees. Galati had made the redevelopment of the Old Pen an electoral key point last fall. “By collaborating with the mayor, we are sending a strong message to the federal government to go forward with this project,” he said.

Working Committee

The Boyer administration and Action Laval agree on the importance of creating a technical working committee. Its mandate would be to establish a common vision and a work plan to ensure the preservation and enhancement of this federal establishment, abandoned since 1989. The idea was also discussed during the first tête-à-tête between Boyer and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, last April 13.

“However, it is a real heritage gem that would have the necessary potential to accommodate a mix of functions, and highlight Laval’s history,” Boyer and Galati agree. They’re also reminding that “this building has been deteriorating for several decades”. Ironically, the Vieux-Pen, built in 1873, was designated a national historic site of Canada the year after it closed in 1990.

If Boyer’s team has been dreaming for years of seeing an educational, cultural or touristic project set up there, Galati and Action Laval were instead suggesting, during the last election campaign, to group residential, commercial and industrial activities. Whatever the chosen project, the common objective is to give a second life to the establishment, while bringing new life into the sector.

Extension of Saint-Martin

The extension of Boulevard Saint-Martin also grabs the attention of this cross-party agreement.

Action Laval thus follows the Boyer administration, wishing to establish a new road link to the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul and Saint-François districts, two electoral districts represented on the municipal council by this opposition group led by Achille Cifelli, also a councillor in Val-des-Arbres. Together, they will combine their efforts to ask Quebec’s government to commit to funding “the establishment of a mode of transport [in common] structuring on this major highway for Lavalloises and Lavallois”.

This new management style illustrates well the comments made by Boyer the day following his election last November, he who had clearly signified his willing to reach out to the elected chiefs of the opposition and to establish “a better climate at the city council”.

An unusual practice to say the least, coming from an administration with a large majority at the council table, and which clashes with what municipal politics in Laval had accustomed us to.

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L’article Common Front to Revitalize the Vieux-Pen est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

“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 place,” Legault said, who “continues to work hand in hand” with the mayor of the third largest city in Quebec.

A feeling shared by Boyer, who said via press release that he had “great ambitions for Laval, and [is] happy to see the Prime Minister share [his] vision”.

“We’ll continue our great collaboration to work on important files for Laval residents, such as the development of structuring transportation, the fight against climate change, and accessibility to affordable housing,” Boyer said in the press release.

As for the expectations in order to stop the housing crisis, the Prime Minister said “there are more than a billion available since two years, but we can’t manage to build those housing”, which is a sign that Quebec, municipalities and the Société d’habitation du Québec need “to work better together”.

Environment

Marc Demers’s successor has committed to investing $100 million over four years for the acquisition, protection and enhancement of natural environments.

“We want to present a global plan to reduce GHGs [greenhouse gases], and I’d like the Government of Quebec to finance part of the plan like it did for Montreal,” Boyer declares while referring to the $117 million envelope paid earlier this spring to the Plante administration to enable it to execute its Climate Plan.

The Laval strategy would target, in part, the preservation of biodiversity and natural environments through acquisition and the continued electrification of the municipal vehicle fleet.

“The government has just issued a call for tenders in order to purchase 88 electric buses in Laval,” the Prime Minister didn’t fail to remind, for whom the environmental protection also involves public transport and the electrification of bus fleets.

Fight Against Gun Violence

In terms of public security, Boyer reiterated his full collaboration to Legault for the implementation of programs and new initiatives aimed at preventing violence in Laval.

“Everything we can do, we will,” he said, while pointing out at the twenty arrests and a series of searches that have taken place in Laval those past months. “We’ve doubled the size of the investigation team affected to organized crime and firearms [trafficking].

Thirteen new resources have been hired since last summer through allocated budgets from the two levels of government.

Culture

Although the case of the Grande bibliothèque and Centre de création artistique professionnelle hasn’t been discussed during the meeting, Legault confirms that the project is clearly registered in the Plan québécois des infrastructures (PQI).

In July 2020, during a virtual forum organized by Laval’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Minister of Finance, Éric Girard, mentioned the government’s interest in investing in this infrastructure project estimated at around $100 million.

“In April, we submitted the functional and technical plan; we’re asking the government to invest a considerable part in this cultural infrastructure project, involving 15 Laval organizations,” Boyer said.

Considering that Laval has always suffered from chronic underfunding compared to the province’s other regions, it could very well ask Quebec to pay half of the bill.

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L’article A Good First Meeting between François Legault and Stéphane Boyer est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.