{"id":697,"date":"2014-09-17T17:43:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T17:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:40:55","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:40:55","slug":"boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/","title":{"rendered":"Boiler-room boxes sparked city inquest"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robert Frank<\/b>
www.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Laval Mayor Marc Demers won\u2019t say what the city found in 208 document boxes squirreled away in city hall\u2019s basement furnace room, but he plans to use whatever he discovered inside to try to recover money that he alleged was pilfered.<\/p>\n

During a packed news conference, Sept. 10, Demers disclosed that he learned from a municipal employee that last year his predecessor, Gilles Vaillancourt, had alerted Florent Gagn\u00e9\u2014the provincial trustee who was running the city\u2014to the boxes\u2019 existence. Demers said that Vaillancourt had asked that the boxes be returned to him.<\/p>\n

The city demurred.<\/p>\n

Instead, it combed through the contents before alleging last week that it had found evidence that, for more than two decades, Laval had paid more than it would have, had construction firms competed freely for city contracts. <\/p>\n

Mayor Demers said that he intends to go to court to try to get back Laval taxpayers\u2019 money. He suggested that \u201cmillions of dollars\u201d could be recovered, but declined to tell reporters the precise amount that the city is seeking from the individuals and corporations whom it intends to pursue. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe system was in place for at least two decades,\u201d the mayor declared, \u201cpermitting significant sums to be diverted.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI firmly believe that we can get some money back,\u201d Mayor Demers told reporters. When asked what the boxes contained, he declined to specify. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s factual,\u201d he replied tersely. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe main purpose [of our actions] is to ensure that everyone understands that this [conduct] will not be [possible] in Laval anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cCitizens have nothing to fear concerning collusion and corruption. We won\u2019t accept it.\u201d <\/p>\n

The mayor used the occasion to highlight the 18-month prison sentence imposed Sept. 5 on former Laval en fleurs CEO Mathieu Lavoie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conviction confirmed that Laval was a victim of Lavoie\u2019s schemes,\u201d he said, noting that city also recovered $70,000 from Lavoie. \u201cIt validated the decision to launch a civil suit against him.\u201d <\/p>\n

Opposition politicians Robert Bordeleau and Jean-Claude Gob\u00e9 both asserted that the mayor\u2019s decision to launch the lawsuit was premature. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a criminal case underway,\u201d Gob\u00e9 observed, referring to charges against Vaillancourt and dozens of others, which have yet to be proved in court. A preliminary hearing in that case is slated for April 7, 2015. <\/p>\n

Gob\u00e9 also questioned the legal fees that taxpayers must now shoulder for various city lawsuits. He suggested that Mayor Demers launched the civil suit \u201cas a smoke screen\u201d to distract the public from his own legal woes. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow much will it cost them to pay for his defense in a trial slated for Nov. 1-2, which questions his eligibility to serve as mayor,\u201d Gob\u00e9 said, \u201cand what will become of his administration if he loses the case?\u201d <\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nLaval Mayor Marc Demers (left) said that colluders have bilked city taxpayers out of millions. He and city manager Serge Lamontagne (right) convened a news conference, Sept. 10, to announce that they’ve filed a lawsuit to try to get the money back.<\/b><\/div>\n
\n(Photo \u00a9 Robert Frank)<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i[‘GoogleAnalyticsObject’]=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
\n (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
\n m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
\n })(window,document,’script’,’\/\/www.google-analytics.com\/analytics.js’,’ga’);<\/p>\n

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-45892555-1’, ‘auto’);
\n ga(‘send’, ‘pageview’);<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robert Frankwww.thesuburban.com Laval Mayor Marc Demers won\u2019t say what the city found in 208 document boxes squirreled away in city hall\u2019s basement furnace room, but he plans to use whatever he discovered inside to try to recover money that he alleged was pilfered. During a packed news conference, Sept. 10, Demers disclosed that he<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBoiler-room boxes sparked city inquest - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boiler-room boxes sparked city inquest - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Robert Frankwww.thesuburban.com Laval Mayor Marc Demers won\u2019t say what the city found in 208 document boxes squirreled away in city hall\u2019s basement furnace room, but he plans to use whatever he discovered inside to try to recover money that he alleged was pilfered. During a packed news conference, Sept. 10, Demers disclosed that he\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robert.frank.90834\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-17T17:43:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-01T19:40:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140910-Marc-Demers-Serge-Lamontagne.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1068\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"editor robert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"editor robert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"editor robert\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3\"},\"headline\":\"Boiler-room boxes sparked city inquest\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-17T17:43:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-01T19:40:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":577,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/140910-Marc-Demers-Serge-Lamontagne.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/\",\"name\":\"Boiler-room boxes sparked city inquest - Newscoverage\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/140910-Marc-Demers-Serge-Lamontagne.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-17T17:43:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-01T19:40:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/140910-Marc-Demers-Serge-Lamontagne.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/140910-Marc-Demers-Serge-Lamontagne.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1068},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/17\\\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Boiler-room boxes sparked city inquest\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newscoverage\",\"description\":\"newscoverage.org\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3\",\"name\":\"editor robert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"editor robert\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/robert.frank.90834\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/editor-robert\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Boiler-room boxes sparked city inquest - Newscoverage","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Boiler-room boxes sparked city inquest - Newscoverage","og_description":"By Robert Frankwww.thesuburban.com Laval Mayor Marc Demers won\u2019t say what the city found in 208 document boxes squirreled away in city hall\u2019s basement furnace room, but he plans to use whatever he discovered inside to try to recover money that he alleged was pilfered. During a packed news conference, Sept. 10, Demers disclosed that he","og_url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/","og_site_name":"Newscoverage","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robert.frank.90834","article_published_time":"2014-09-17T17:43:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-01T19:40:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1068,"url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140910-Marc-Demers-Serge-Lamontagne.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"editor robert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"editor robert","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/"},"author":{"name":"editor robert","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3"},"headline":"Boiler-room boxes sparked city inquest","datePublished":"2014-09-17T17:43:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-01T19:40:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/"},"wordCount":577,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140910-Marc-Demers-Serge-Lamontagne.jpg","inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/","url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/","name":"Boiler-room boxes sparked city inquest - Newscoverage","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140910-Marc-Demers-Serge-Lamontagne.jpg","datePublished":"2014-09-17T17:43:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-01T19:40:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140910-Marc-Demers-Serge-Lamontagne.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/140910-Marc-Demers-Serge-Lamontagne.jpg","width":1600,"height":1068},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/09\/17\/boiler-room-boxes-sparked-city-inques\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Boiler-room boxes sparked city inquest"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/","name":"Newscoverage","description":"newscoverage.org","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3","name":"editor robert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"editor robert"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robert.frank.90834"],"url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/author\/editor-robert\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3405,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions\/3405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}