Laval Ordered to Pay $1 Million to Gilles Vaillancourt; Revenue Minister Decision Unresolved
Monday at 9: 00 a. m. ET — CONFIRMED: the City of Laval must pay $1 million to gilles vaillancourt so he can pay taxes demanded by the Canada Revenue Agency on a $7 million sum that was stolen and later returned. UNCONFIRMED — whether the federal Revenue Minister will cancel the notice, an action Laval’s mayor has requested, is unconfirmed as of Monday at 9: 00 a. m. ET.
Gilles Vaillancourt: The confirmed tax demand and the returned $7 million
CONFIRMED FACT — The Canada Revenue Agency (ARC) is seeking tax on a $7 million sum that was taken by former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt and later returned to the city in 2016.
CONFIRMED FACT — The immediate administrative consequence is a $1 million payment that Laval has been told to make to Mr. Vaillancourt so he can satisfy the agency’s tax claim on that $7 million.
Stéphane Boyer and the city’s objection to the $1 million payment
CONFIRMED FACT — Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer has publicly called the requirement to send a $1 million cheque to Mr. Vaillancourt unfair and has refused to simply comply with the directive.
CONFIRMED FACT — The $7 million that Mr. Vaillancourt returned in 2016 has been placed in a municipal fund used to finance organizations in disadvantaged Laval neighbourhoods and programs aimed at helping youth.
UNCONFIRMED — legal or administrative grounds the city will use to resist the payment are unconfirmed as of Monday at 9: 00 a. m. ET; the city’s internal deliberations and any formal challenge timetable have not been confirmed.
François-Philippe Champagne: The decision that would resolve the dispute
CONFIRMED FACT — Mayor Boyer has appealed to Revenue Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who has the power to cancel the tax procedure that is driving the $1 million payment requirement.
CONFIRMED FACT — An adviser for the former mayor has demanded that Laval pay the notice of assessment because the tax agency addressed Vaillancourt but the recovered funds are now in the city’s coffers.
UNCONFIRMED — the minister’s response and any timeline for a decision are unconfirmed as of Monday at 9: 00 a. m. ET.
Closing — CONFIRMED next step: the mayor’s appeal to Revenue Minister François-Philippe Champagne is the immediate action that could alter the requirement for Laval to pay $1 million. No decision date from the minister has been confirmed as of Monday at 9: 00 a. m. ET. If the minister cancels the procedure, the $1 million notice would be withdrawn.
