The Mayor of Laval will meet with all political parties in the coming weeks. “Maybe asking for money is the easy way out,” explained the mayor of Laval. Of course, the topic of financing is not far away”, but […] If you’re creative, if you try to think outside the box, sometimes there are other solutions that are possible,” he stresses.

The young mayor wants to put the cards on the table: there will be no question of a confrontation with the next government, however that may be. The province has its priorities, we have our priorities. Let’s sit around a table and find the aisleshe says.

Accelerate the modernization of the hospital

The city of Laval is the third largest in Quebec. The population is growing, but healthcare facilities aren’t keeping up, the mayor says.

He asks the future government to give priority to the project to modernize the Cité-de-la-Santé hospital, already included in the Quebec infrastructure plan (PQI). The project, which will be carried out in several phases, provides in particular for doubling the capacity of the care and increasing the number of short-term hospital beds to almost 500.

” We want to make sure that the projects are not forgotten »

Public transport and environmental protection

Quebec last May announced three public transportation projects included in Bill 66 to accelerate infrastructure projects. It is a bus route on the boulevards de la Concorde and Notre-Dame, the extension of the western branch of the orange metro line towards the center of Laval and the extension of traffic connecting the east and west on the axis of the boulevard Saint Martin. The mayor of Laval wants to speed things up.

To achieve a 33% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions below 1990 levels by 2035, Laval needs to reduce its emissions by around 500,000 tonnes of CO₂. The city will need Quebec’s help to make it happen. The mayor will present a new plan for climate change adaptation and mitigation THG within a few months. In particular, Laval plans to invest several hundred thousand dollars to reduce that THG and better protect wetlands.

Affordable housing

According to the mayor, 1,500 families in Laval are currently waiting for social housing. The next government must commit to building these units and provide multi-year funding. Municipal taxation also needs to be reviewed, says the mayor of Laval. The city could use a property speculation tax to withdraw more revenue that would be invested in housing construction.

” For us, both to have a free hand when it comes to financing social housing and to have the legal levers to act [… ] It is very important. »

In addition, Laval is calling for a review of the expropriation law to reduce costs for cities. This application was made more than a year ago by the Union of Municipalities of Québec.