'King of Laval' Gilles Vaillancourt granted day parole

The former mayor of Laval who was sentenced to six years in prison has been granted day parole after serving 11 months behind bars.

Gilles Vaillancourt was sentenced in December 2016 for fraud, breach of trust and conspiracy to commit fraud. He was eligible for parole thanks to a plea deal struck last year with the Crown.

• Gilles Vaillancourt sentenced to 6 years in prison
• Gilles Vaillancourt corruption case leaves Laval residents with bitter taste

The Parole Board of Canada said it has no reasonable motive to believe that Gilles Vaillancourt "would commit a violent offence if released before the legal expiration of [his] sentence" and therefore recommended he be released.

"According to the statistical information scale on recidivism, four out of five offenders with characteristics similar to yours will not commit criminal acts in the three years following their release," the report said.

Parole conditions

The Parole Board of Canada imposed several conditions on Vaillancourt, 76, including a requirement he perform community service and another that he divulge all his financial information.

He is also not allowed to participate in any kind of political activities and is banned from overseeing any kind of financial investments for other people or companies.

Vaillancourt was the mayor of Laval for 23 years until his arrest in 2013 as part of a sweep by the province's anti-corruption unit, known by its French acronym, UPAC.

He was originally facing 12 charges, including conspiracy, fraud, influence peddling, breach of trust and gangsterism.

The gangsterism charges were dropped as part of a plea deal,which he reached with the Crown in November 2016. It called for a six-year prison sentence, with parole eligibility after one year.

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

His plea deal included waiving his pension and a commitment to repay the city $7 million from a Swiss bank account, as well as turn over more than $1 million in other assets, including his condominium.

Vaillancourt "trivializes" his crimes, case workers say

In its report, the parole board said Vaillancourt never posed a problem for security staff and had good behaviour.

Yet it states that, according to Vaillancourt's case workers, he "minimizes and trivializes" the crimes he committed.

"[The case workers] mention it is difficult to make you talk about your criminal involvement," the report says.

"It seems you constantly change the subject and evade the questions. You have the tendency to show yourself in a positive light by highlighting your accomplishments as mayor, or you speak of worse cases than yours.…In conclusion, your case workers say this cognitive distortion is ingrained in your way of thinking."