Lives & Legacy

Last December, when municipal officials across the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region were approving budgets for 2026, many town officials aimed to keep tax increases roughly around the 3-per-cent-rate-of-inflation range, while the MRC council approved a budget that included a 10-per-cent spending hike. That increase by the regional authority translated into a 15.6-per-cent jump in the amounts billed to the 23 towns in the territory.

In real estate, “location, location, location,” is the saying used to list the three most important factors in determining a property’s value. This could be especially true with the much-anticipated opening of the Vaudreuil-Soulanges hospital next year, as proximity to the health-care hub appears to be already boosting property prices in the region, say veteran real estate brokers.

The 1019 Report’s Frederic Serre won a provincial community newspaper honour last weekend, winning the award for Best Editorial Cartoon.

Many questions remain a week after two young men perished in Coteau du Lac while fleeing Sûreté du Québec in a speeding BMW that slammed into a river near Highway 20. Because the deaths are related to a police intervention, the case is under investigation by the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI) and the Montreal Police Department.

As opposition to a proposed high-speed train line from Quebec City to Toronto mount in a number of rural towns in Quebec and Ontario, officials in Pointe Fortune and Rigaud are demanding officials with the Crown corporation that aims to build the rail line answer questions about how their territories will be affected.

Vaudreuil-Dorion’s annual Festival de cirque will mark its 20th edition later this month, celebrating acrobatics, dance, juggling, street art and many more features of circus-inspired performances.

Amid growing concerns about pedestrian safety in Rigaud’s village core, the town is planning to install overhead flashing lights at crosswalks later this summer, with more safety measures to potentially follow, said Mayor Charles Meunier.

The MRC of Vaudreuil-Soulanges is asking Quebec’s Health Ministry and Santé Québec to change how 911 calls are treated in this region — returning to allowing local fire department first-responders to be dispatched when a call for medical help is made.

Plans for a 45-unit affordable housing project in St. Lazare are in motion, with the city hopeful shovels will be in the ground later this year to start construction, according to the mayor.

The lawyer for a couple who recently won a $62,500 settlement against a landlord in Hudson for a so-called ‘reno-viction’ scheme says it’s the highest penalty she has ever seen handed out by a rental board judge in the 25 years that she’s been practising law.