Remembering the life of Gilles Vaillancourt
Gilles Vaillancourt passed away. This is the full obituary where you can express condolences and share memories. Published in the Montreal Gazette on 2024-08-17.
montrealgazette.remembering.caGilles Vaillancourt is a former Laval, Quebec, mayor who has been the subject of corruption-related legal proceedings in the past, including a guilty plea in 2016 and a prison sentence related to fraud and related charges. There have been no widely reported, verifiable updates about him in 2025–2026 beyond that historical context.
Key points to know:
- He led Laval for 23 years (1989–2012) and was widely nicknamed the “King of Laval” during his tenure. This background is well documented in coverage of Laval’s corruption investigations that surfaced in the Charbonneau inquiry era.[3]
- In December 2016, Vaillancourt pleaded guilty to fraud, breach of trust, and conspiracy to commit fraud as part of a plea bargain and was sentenced to six years in prison, with potential parole after one year, and a substantial requirement to repay funds to the city of Laval.[1]
- Earlier court appearances related to corruption charges occurred in 2015 during preliminary hearings connected to the broader Charbonneau inquiry into construction-sector corruption in Quebec.[2]
If you’d like, I can pull in the latest verified sources and summarize any new developments with citations.