The mayor of Laval is calling on Ottawa to intervene after the city was ordered to pay $1 million in federal taxes. Mayor Stéphane Boyer says the amount represents taxes on $7 million that was stolen by former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt. “The government is kind of trying to tax the victim. It’s like if someone steals your wallet in the streets and when the police officer brings it back, says, now that you have new revenue in your wallet, pay your taxes,” Boyer explained. The mayor said the money, owed to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), was held in a Swiss bank and returned to the City of Laval in 2016, when Vaillancourt pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, breach of trust, and conspiracy. Although the money was stolen, according to Boyer, the CRA considers it revenue. The agency had initially pursued Vaillancourt, but his lawyers argued the City of Laval was in possession of the money and should be held liable for the taxes. “We would have not paid those taxes normally. And I don’t feel like it’s fair that we pay it now because we are not supposed to pay taxes on money that was stolen from us at the beginning,” Boyer noted. The mayor said he has spoken with federal Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, but nothing has changed. “We believe that this is such an extraordinary case that we need to act, that we need a political intervention,” he said. In 2016, the Quebec government gave Laval $1.8 million to pay Revenu Québec the back taxes owed by Vaillancourt. The mayor expects similar action from the federal government. In question period on Monday, Champagne said he is working with the CRA to find a solution. “Hopefully we won’t have to go back in front of a judge to try to sort this out,” Boyer said. He added that the recuperated money is now in a special fund that helps non-profit organizations in Laval’s poorest neighbourhoods.
