Municipal elections |Parti Laval - Équipe Larochelle presents its commitments to protect Laval from flooding
Laval, Thursday, October 2, 2025 - Parti Laval - On Thursday, Équipe Larochelle announced its infrastructure commitments to "protect Laval from flooding". Among other things, Claude Larochelle's political party is proposing to invest a minimum of $800 million in the maintenance and massive modernization of essential infrastructures, to create sponge parks in neighborhoods, to set up a Laval Blue Fund and to commit to planting 100,000 trees over four years to strengthen its resilience in the face of climate change. "For more than 10 years, Mr. Boyer's party has been repeating that we need to invest more than $100M$ in our overflow structures to meet the challenges of climate change. Yet very little has been done in all that time. We've known this for a long time, and so has the Boyer administration. Our infrastructures require urgent and massive investment. We're talking about more than 621 M$, by 2023, just to be up to date and avoid the worst! At Parti Laval, we're committed to protecting Laval residents from flooding, starting now. We have concrete measures and we're serious. If this were a priority for Mr. Boyer, he would have already acted," explains Claude Larochelle, leader and mayoral candidate for Parti Laval - Équipe Larochelle.
An urgent priority
According to Mr. Larochelle's political party, the issue of modernizing sewer, aqueduct and stormwater infrastructures is an "urgent matter" that should become one of the administration's top priorities the day after November 2. "We must invest massively in our infrastructures. We need to protect the people of Laval from flooding. It's a matter of urgency. Our infrastructures have been neglected for 12 years now by Mayor Boyer's party. The Auditor General's 2019 report clearly indicated that, in the absence of concrete action and significant investment in our sewer and road infrastructures, due to climate change and the city's accelerated development, we were at risk of major overflows and flooding. Mayor Boyer knew all about it," says an indignant Mr. Larochelle.
With the increase in extreme weather events and dilapidated infrastructures unable to absorb excess water, many were quick to point out, in August 2024, that Laval is vulnerable. On Thursday, Parti Laval - Équipe Larochelle announced that it was ready to take action right from the start of its mandate with targeted and immediate measures:
- Modernize infrastructure by investing a minimum of $800 million in sewers, aqueducts and stormwater structures to increase water retention and drainage capacity and reduce flood risks;
- Create and deploy sponge parks in several neighborhoods, to reduce pressure on stormwater systems while beautifying and greening living environments;
- Set up a Fonds bleu lavallois (FBL) offering subsidies to help citizens install check valves, submersible pumps and other residential protection devices;
- Plant 100,000 trees in four years, many of them along major boulevards, to enhance rainwater absorption, combat heat islands and increase the area's ecological resilience.
"What we're proposing today are realistic, concrete and immediately applicable measures to better protect Laval. We have even recruited Martine Lanoue, an engineer who is our candidate in the Laval-des-Rapides district. Ms. Lanoue has 25 years' experience in engineering, specializing in water management, to help us meet this challenge and finally take charge of an issue that Mayor Boyer has neglected for too long. After 12 years in power, Mr. Boyer is content to observe the damage and multiply empty promises, but the population no longer trusts him. Laval deserves better, and we at Parti Laval are ready to take care of the real business," concludes Mr. Larochelle.
-30-
SOURCE :
Laval Party
INFORMATION : Tommy Vallée | Communications Manager
438 875 8663 │contact@tommyvallee.com