The mayor of Laval is urging the federal government to ensure residents are not taxed on money recovered from a major municipal corruption scheme tied to former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt.
Vaillancourt, who served as Laval’s mayor from 1989 to 2012, was sentenced to six years in prison in December 2016 after pleading guilty to fraud, breach of trust and conspiracy to commit fraud. Authorities said he led a large corruption system that involved kickbacks from construction contractors.
City officials say funds recovered from the scheme could now be subject to federal taxation, something the current mayor argues would unfairly penalize residents who were victims of the fraud.
“Laval residents have already paid a heavy price for this fraud. It would be unacceptable for them to now be asked to pay taxes on money that was stolen from them,” said Stéphane Boyer, Laval mayor.
He is calling on Ottawa to use discretionary powers to exempt the funds from taxation, noting the Quebec government took a similar step in 2016.
“There is discretionary authority to correct exceptional situations like this. We are asking the federal government to exercise that judgment, just as the Government of Quebec did in 2016,” said Boyer. “I would find it very difficult to write a cheque to Mr. Vaillancourt, we need to be on the right side of history.”
