Marc Demers Explained

Marc Demers
Birth Date:August 1951[1] [2]
Birth Place:Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Office:8th Mayor of Laval, Quebec
Term Start:November 13, 2013[3]
Term End:November 13, 2021[4]
Predecessor:Gilles Vaillancourt
Successor:Stéphane Boyer
Party:Mouvement Lavallois
Spouse:Jeanne D'Arc Bélisle

Marc Demers is a Canadian politician, who served as mayor of Laval from 2013 to 2021. He was elected in the city's 2013 municipal election.[5] A former police officer, he took office at a time when the city was under trusteeship due to a corruption scandal that had enveloped his predecessors Gilles Vaillancourt and Alexandre Duplessis.[5]

In 2017, Demers announced that a portion of the money repaid to the city by the convicted former mayors would be set aside to create a fund for disadvantaged youth in the city.[6]

Upbringing

Demers was born in August 1951 to a father who owned a private investigating firm and who was once an RCMP officer.[7] Demers' father died young in 1959 and his dad's once successful business went bankrupt. The firm's bankruptcy plunged the Demers family into near poverty, where his mother struggled to take care of the family, which consisted of five kids. The Demers lived in rent-subsidized apartments.[8]

Demers graduated from St. Maxime high school.

Career

Demers became a police officer in 1971.[9] In the early 1980s he discovered that the former mayor of Laval, Gilles Vaillancourt, was engaged in fraudulent activity.[10] Demers found evidence that councilor Vaillancourt, at the time, held money in a local credit union under a false name to avoid paying more income taxes.[11]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Cipriani . Lisa . Mayor Demers: The Untold Story . Laval Families Magazine . 29 May 2021 . en.
  2. News: Mushi . Christinne . As scandal-plagued Laval's new mayor, an ex-cop gets ready for cleanup work . Globe and Mail . 29 May 2021.
  3. News: Demers officially takes over in Laval. November 14, 2013. A8. Montreal Gazette. April 30, 2020.
  4. News: Stéphane Boyer est élu maire de Laval . November 8, 2021. Le Devoir. November 13, 2021.
  5. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/honesty-is-only-policy-for-new-laval-mayor-marc-demers-1.2355407 "Honesty is only policy for new Laval mayor Marc Demers"
  6. https://globalnews.ca/news/3539838/laval-creates-fund-with-recouped-corruption-money-to-give-back-to-city-youth/ "Laval creates fund with recouped corruption money to give back to city youth"
  7. Web site: Cipriani . Lisa . Mayor Demers: The Untold Story . Laval Families Magazine . 29 May 2021 . en.
  8. Web site: Cipriani . Lisa . Mayor Demers: The Untold Story . Laval Families Magazine . 29 May 2021 . en.
  9. Web site: Cipriani . Lisa . Mayor Demers: The Untold Story . Laval Families Magazine . 29 May 2021 . en.
  10. News: Mushi . Christinne . As scandal-plagued Laval's new mayor, an ex-cop gets ready for cleanup work . Globe and Mail . 29 May 2021.
  11. News: Mushi . Christinne . As scandal-plagued Laval's new mayor, an ex-cop gets ready for cleanup work . Globe and Mail . 29 May 2021.