Gilles Vaillancourt corruption case leaves Laval residents with bitter taste

Former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt's guilty plea to fraud, breach of trust and conspiracy to commit fraud is forcing residents to confront a legacy of corruption in Quebec's third-largest city.

The agreement reached between the Crown and defence would see Vaillancourt, who ran the city for more than two decades, sentenced to six years in prison. He has also agreed to pay back$8 million to the city.

The prison sentence must be approved by a judge.

Despite the guilty plea, however,many residents say they are left with a bitter taste.

"I find he had a very good deal," resident DenisThiviergesaid of the plea bargain.

• 'King of Laval' Gilles Vaillancourt could face 6 years in prison, must repay $8M

Thiviergesaid he's confident corruption in the city will be tackledunder Laval's current mayor, MarcDemers.

"I think we have a good mayor right now and he's doing a good job. In the future, I think it will be better," he said.

Vaillancourtwas arrested in March 2013 along with 36 others as part of a sweepby the province's anti-corruption unit, known asUPAC. Thirty-three ofVaillancourt'sco-accused are still slated to stand trial.

As part of the agreement,Vaillancourthas admitted that he knew about a system of corruption and collusion within his administration at Laval city hall.

Ithink brighter lights have been turned on in Laval.- Gordon Berry, Laval resident

The police investigation, which was dubbed Project Honor, looked into a system of corruption related to the awarding of public contracts by the City of Laval between 1996 and 2010.

'We were lied to'

Gordon Berry, who has lived in Laval almost two decades, said there were rumoursabout mismanagement of city fundsbut that, in a case, like this, "hindsight is always 20/20."

"There was always a bit of mumbling and rumbling and things that seemed a bit odd at the time," he told CBC's Homerun.

Though the former mayor has apologized, Berry isn't convinced that the people's faith in municipal officials will return.

"It's always sad whenyou'relaying faith in your elected officials and you get screwed," he said.

"We were lied to. We got cheated out of a lot of money that should have gone into the everyday lives of people in Laval."

He hopes that the events will bolster people to take more of an interest in municipal politics and keeping their leaders in check.

"Ithink brighter lights have been turned on in Laval," said Berry.

"It's a lack of involvement from the citizens. Maybe we should be holding them more accountable.Maybe we should be asking more questions."

'Candy sentence' or 'mission accomplished'?

Laval's current mayor, MarcDemers, released a video online declaring "mission accomplished."

He said that many residents were concernedVaillancourtwould get off "scot-free," but that his administrationspent months negotiating with the lawyers involved.

"We will be taking to court everyone who has stolen from the City of Laval. You can count on me."

The Opposition at City Hall, however, argues Vaillancourt got off easy.

Laval Opposition leader Jean-Claude Gob told Daybreakhe was very disappointed with the "candy sentence."

"He took a lot of money from the citizens of Laval," he said.

Gob rejectedthe idea that Vaillancourt deserves a break because he's 75.

"It's unacceptable," he said. "For the ordinary citizen, when they make an offence to the law, they have a sentence they have to do."