Around thirty organizations from several regions are asking Prime Minister François Legault to keep his electoral promise to invest 470 million to help Quebec villages provide local services to their citizens.
While the government will soon present its 2024-2025 budget, several regional representatives want measures that ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for towns and villages to be included.
“You know, to occupy the territory in Quebec, it takes people and to have people, it takes services and to maintain the services, well, it takes support,” summarized Charles Milliard, president and general manager of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Quebec, during a press conference.
He is one of the signatories of the declaration of the “Plan for the vitality of the hearts of towns and villages” published on Tuesday.
“We want to remind the good memories of the government of the promise that was made to invest 470 million in the preservation and maintenance of local services in our small towns, our small villages in Quebec,” added Mr. Milliard, making reference to a commitment by François Legault during the last electoral campaign.
Major challenges
“In many respects, I think that the villages and towns in Quebec are in the eye of the storm,” said the president and general manager of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Quebec.
According to the signatories of the declaration, the challenges are numerous and include competition from mega-malls and e-commerce, the development of a hybrid work model that distances workers, the housing crisis, the rise of homelessness and the lack of efficient public transportation services.
The hearts of towns and villages also need help to cope with the “deterioration of infrastructure and their heritage”, which has increased since the pandemic. They are also calling for measures to promote local purchasing, support retail businesses and the social economy.
“Every week in the newspaper, we hear about citizens who deplore the closure of a local business,” said Jeanne Robin, senior director of Vivre en Ville.
Martine Chagnon, general director of Mon Quartier de Lévis, recalled that at a certain time, “we worked hard to set up mega shopping centers outside the village, where we brought about changes in citizens’ habits”.
These changes, she added, have hurt villages and city centers.
So for citizens to return to city centers and village hearts, “it will take another paradigm shift” and “to make paradigm shifts, it takes money,” said Martine Chagnon.
The preservation of villages and town centers is also a question of cultural identity, underlined Julie Favreau, General Director of Rues Principales Coaticook.
“Our city centers proudly represent the Quebec culture of living together which sets us apart from our counterparts in North America. It is this collective identity that is found in the cores of our towns and villages.”
Modernize municipal taxation
In order to strengthen the competitiveness and attractiveness of the hearts of towns and villages, new tax rules are needed, according to the signatory organizations of the “Plan for the vitality of the hearts of towns and villages”.
These new rules should take into account better equity between physical commerce and electronic commerce, according to the signatories of the plan.
They are also calling for an exemplary location strategy for public buildings such as CLSCs or branches of the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), so that these establishments contribute to the development of city centers.