Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer said Monday he has been diagnosed with a brain tumour and will stay in office, though he will scale back his public activities this fall.
Boyer, who leads Quebec’s third-largest city, disclosed the diagnosis in a social media post, saying he had been experiencing headaches and visual disturbances for several months before undergoing an MRI of his brain.
“The diagnosis is in: a meningioma, a brain tumor,” Boyer wrote in the post, as reported by The Canadian Press. “Most of these tumors are benign, but I have to wait for my upcoming appointments with a neurosurgeon to find out what happens next.”
The mayor said he will continue to fulfil his duties and attend all work meetings, while reducing his public appearances over the coming months to take care of himself.
“I feel fine, my energy levels are excellent, and I retain all my abilities,” he wrote.
Boyer said he does not yet have answers to all of his questions, but added that he wants to continue to be involved in his city and is moving forward “with serenity.”
A meningioma grows from the meninges, the layers of tissue that cover the brain and spinal cord. According to the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, meningiomas account for roughly a third of primary brain tumours in adults, usually grow slowly and may go undetected for years. The foundation says the vast majority are benign, meaning they are non-cancerous and do not spread elsewhere in the body, although a small share are malignant and can grow more quickly. They are diagnosed most often in people in their 40s and 50s and are two to three times more common in women than in men.
Boyer did not say whether surgery, radiation or a period of monitoring is under consideration, indicating that will depend on his coming appointments with a neurosurgeon.
He has been mayor of Laval since 2021, when he succeeded Marc Demers and became, at 33, the youngest mayor in the city’s history. He was re-elected on Nov. 2, 2025, taking about 59 per cent of the vote against Claude Larochelle of Parti Laval and Frédéric Mayer of Action Laval. His party, Mouvement lavallois, won 17 of the 22 seats on city council in that election, a gain of three.
The diagnosis comes roughly 10 months into a four-year mandate that runs to the next Quebec municipal general election in 2029.
Laval, located on Île Jésus just north of Montreal, recorded a population of 443,192 in the 2021 census. That makes it the third-largest city in Quebec after Montreal and Quebec City, and the 13th-largest municipality in Canada.
Boyer has also been living for several years with ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory condition of the spine that causes stiffness and pain, The Canadian Press reported.
The mayor did not set out a timeline for further updates on his condition, and did not say whether any of his responsibilities would be reassigned while he reduces his public schedule. The Canadian Press first published its report on the announcement in French on Sept. 7.
