This section keeps you up-to-date on the latest news and upcoming public appearances of Lavery professionals.
News
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Lavery appoints six new partners
Lavery is pleased to welcome the following professionals as partners in the firm: Dominic Boisvert France Camille De Mers Catherine Deslauriers Chloé Fauchon Pier-Olivier Fradette Marie-Eve Pomerleau These talented lawyers who are rising to the rank of partner have shown a strong commitment to the firm and the profession in recent years, and they brilliantly embody Lavery’s values: Excellence, Collaboration, Audacity and Entrepreneurship. “We offer them our congratulations on this significant achievement in their legal careers. The diversity in background of our new partners is a testament to the depth of our 360° service offering and our desire to be a growth partner for companies doing business in Quebec”, said Anik Trudel, Lavery’s Chief Executive Officer.
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A Lavery team to train members of the COMBEQ in 2018 on wetland issues
Throughout 2018, Daniel Bouchard, a partner, along with Valérie Belle-Isle, Chloé Fauchon and Pier-Olivier Fradette, associates of the Public and Administrative Law group, will train members of the Corporation des officiers municipaux en bâtiment et en environnement du Québec (COMBEQ). The seminar is entitled “Milieux humides et hydriques et certificat d’autorisation : quel rôle pour les municipalités ?” and is intended primarily for environmental municipal officers, as well as other municipal workers. It deals with the practical impact of Bills 102 and 132 adopted in 2017 respecting the conservation of wetlands and bodies of water. The training will be offered to all municipalities in the province and will be delivered in 24 cities over the course of the year.
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Pier-Olivier Fradette published in La référence by Éditions Yvon Blais
On July 5, an article analyzing a decision on access to information and written by Pier-Olivier Fradette, an associate of the Public and Administrative Law group, appeared in La Référence, a specialized publication by Éditions Yvon Blais. The article is a commentary on Aréna Marcel Dutil inc. c. Succession de Gagnon, 2017 QCCQ 278426, a decision on whether organizations and committees that gravitate around municipalities are subject to the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information. Click here to read the article (in French only).
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Valérie Belle-Isle and Pier-Olivier Fradette speak at the ADMQ convention
Valérie Belle-Isle and Pier-Olivier Fradette, lawyers of the Public and Administrative Law group, presented seminars during the Association des directeurs municipaux du Québec (ADMQ) annual convention, held June 14 – 16, 2017 at the Québec City Convention Centre. Me. Fradette spoke on June 15 about the work that a municipality could perform internally. The purpose of the seminar was to analyze the main construction laws and identify situations where a municipality could carry out the work using its own employees without having to hire professionals such as engineers, architects, electricians, plumbers, contractors with an RBQ permit or employees with a CCQ competency certificate. Both Me. Belle-Isle and Me. Fradette spoke during the second seminar, entitled Les zones grises des pouvoirs du conseil municipal (Grey areas in municipal council powers) presented on June 16, which identified situations where the municipal council has been granted broad powers under the Act and offered guidelines to general directors on assisting municipal councils in their decision-making. The three situations discussed were emergency work in the event of superior force, powers of the municipal council during the 30-day period preceding an election and requests to amend by-laws.
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Over one hundred participants attend Lavery construction law conferences
Lavery held two conferences, at its Montréal and Québec City offices respectively on June 1 and 8, 2017, on the latest developments, trends, and issues in construction law. Over one hundred participants attended the conferences. Marie-Claude Cantin moderated the Montréal conference, during which construction arbitration (Emil Vidrascu), the principle of fair treatment of bidders (Julie Grondin), and certain types of construction project financing (Étienne Brassard) were discussed. Marie Cossette moderated the Québec City conference, during which the legal distinction between the principal contract and sub-contract (François Bélanger), the decision in Buesco c. Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosement (Simon Rainville), and the essential due diligence principles with respect to licences, regulations, and authorization certificates (Pier-Olivier Fradette) were addressed.
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Pier-Olivier Fradette and Charlotte Fortin present recent developments in municipal law
On March 17, Pier-Olivier Fradette and Charlotte Fortin, lawyers in the Administrative Law group, gave a presentation at the 26th annual conference on recent developments in municipal law organized by the Barreau du Québec. The presentation dealt with the new Act to improve the legal situation of animals and analyzed the novel features of that Act, the standards it maintains from previous legislation, and its impact on the treatment of animals and on municipalities’ powers in the management of domestic animals and stray animals.
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Pier-Olivier Fradette analyzes the impact of animals’ new legal situation on municipalities
Pier-Olivier Fradette, a municipal affairs lawyer, analyzes the potential impact of the Act to improve the legal situation of animals on municipalities in the December 2016 edition of Magazine Quorum, published quarterly by the Fédération québécoise des municipalités. Me Fradette identifies the major provisions affecting municipalities and discusses how they should address these legislative amendments. He explains that the Act is two-fold: The first part establishes that animals are no longer things within the meaning of the Civil Code of Québec, and the second part introduces new provisions regarding the welfare and safety of animals. Click here to read the full analysis (in French only).
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Pier-Olivier Fradette of Lavery gives COMBEQ training sessions in partnership with the MMQ
For a third year running, Pier-Olivier Fradette, a lawyer whose practice focuses on municipal law, land use planning, and municipal contract management,, will be giving a COMBEQ (Corporation des officiers municipaux en bâtiment et en environnement du Québec) and MMQ (Mutuelle des Municipalités du Québec) training session in several Quebec cities. The session, which is entitled “Permit, certificate or attestation issuance: an inventory of rules to be followed” (“Émission des permis, certificats ou attestations : inventaire des règles à respecter”) will allow participants to broaden their knowledge regarding the latest changes in legislative and jurisprudential orientation in this field. This training is accredited to contribute to obtain the title of municipal officer in building and environment. For more information or to register for the session, please click here (link to French-only registration page).
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Pier-Olivier Fradette and Charlotte Fortin comment on the Superior Court’s decision dealing with the City of Montreal’s by-law concerning pitbull-type dogs
In a paper published in La Référence, Pier-Olivier Fradette and Charlotte Fortin, lawyers, summarized and commented the Lours v. Ville de Montréal decision regarding the Superior Court’s decision to prohibit pitbull-type dog rendered on October 5, 2016. In this decision, which has significant impacts on municipal law, Quebec Superior Court suspended the entry into force of several provisions of the Règlement sur le contrôle des animaux de la Ville de Montréal. This suspension was applicable until the merit hearing regarding the validity of the application initiated by Mrs. Lours and the SPCA. On December 1, 2016, the Quebec Court of Appeal received Ville de Montréal’s appeal of this by-law suspension. In their comments on the original decision, Ms. Fortin and M. Fradette raised several of the grounds cited by the Court of Appeal to reverse the suspension.
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Pier-Olivier Fradette offers training sessions to the members of the Association des directeurs municipaux du Québec
Pier-Olivier Fradette, municipal affairs lawyer at Lavery, recently delivered two training sessions (in French) in Lac-Etchemin on behalf of the Association des directeurs municipaux du Québec (ADMQ). The first training session, titled “Volunteer groups operating under the umbrella of the municipality: what are the ground rules?,” dealt with the municipal by-laws and issues to consider before creating an organization along with the legal implications. The second training session, “The ABCs of ministerial authorizations and approval related to municipal finance,” explained the procedures related to the approval of borrowing by-laws, the authorization of credit commitments and the authorization of surety bonds. In the first training session, participants learned about the various municipal by-laws applicable to organizations depending on their legal status and the granting of financial support or assistance to those organizations. In the second training session, participants learned about best practices pertaining to borrowing, the various options for municipal taxation, and cases where it is not necessary to obtain ministerial approval or authorization to borrow. The two training sessions were offered to the CEOs of municipalities and will be presented again on November 22, 2016, in Trois-Rivières.
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Pier-Olivier Fradette signs an article in the January edition of BâtiVert magazine
Pier-Olivier Fradette, a lawyer whose practice focuses on municipal law, land use planning, and municipal contract management, has published an article in the January 2016 quarterly issue of BâtiVert, a magazine that covers recent jurisprudence, distributed by the Corporation des officiers municipaux en bâtiment et environnement du Québec (COMBEQ). The article entitled “The protection of municipal executive again put to the test… and again confirmed” (“La protection des cadres des municipalités testée de nouveau… et confirmée de nouveau”) analyses the decisions of the Commission des relations de travail (first instance) and the Superior Court (judicial review) in Jean-François Fournier v. Municipalité de Lac-des-Plages. Mr. Fradette explains the heavy burden a municipality carries when attempting to terminate an executive and that such a thing cannot be done without sound and meritorious reason even if a notice of termination clause was included and accepted in a work contract. The full article will be soon available on the COMBEQ website (French only)
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Pier-Olivier Fradette of Lavery to give COMBEQ training session in partnership with the MMQ
Throughout 2016, Pier-Olivier Fradette, a lawyer whose practice focuses on municipal law, land use planning, and municipal contract management, will be giving a COMBEQ (Corporation des officiers municipaux en bâtiment et en environnement du Québec) and MMQ (Mutuelle des Municipalités du Québec) training session in several Quebec cities. The session, which is entitled “Permit, certificate or attestation issuance: an inventory of rules to be followed” (“Émission des permis, certificats ou attestations : inventaire des règles a` respecter”) will allow participants to broaden their knowledge regarding the latest changes in legislative and jurisprudential orientation in this field. This training is accredited to contribute to obtain the title of municipal officer in building and environment. For more information or to register for the session, please click here (link to French-only registration page).