When the opposition proposes | The Press

Politics is not just about big ideological clashes or little murderous phrases.

Far from the spotlight, elected officials also seek to resolve concrete problems experienced by citizens. Including the opposition.

Their work is thankless. We ask them to be constructive and to propose solutions, but when they do, we quickly take note of it and then move on to another call. Because the news does not slow down.

Their miseries are known. The Liberals have lost the Francophones, the Solidaires are struggling to please the regions and older voters, and the PQ dream of a sovereignty that seems more inaccessible than ever. But beyond the game, we should also take an interest in their work.

So let’s pause to reflect on their recent concrete suggestions for tackling predatory credit charges, senior tenant evictions and food waste.

In recent months, the Liberals have been talked about for their setbacks. The verdict: a party of disconnected elites. Their star MP Marwah Rizqy, however, defends “ordinary” people, as her private bill on abusive credit proves. This is already his third bill introduced since October – another deals with planned obsolescence.

Hard to find a better symbol of helplessness than our relationship with financial institutions. They don’t just have the big end of the stick, they hold it with both hands. As the member for Saint-Laurent points out, credit card interest rates often exceed 15% or even 20%.

The federal government signed an agreement in 2018 with MasterCard, Visa and American Express to limit their rates, but they remain very high.

M^me Rizqy would like to cap them for the long term (mortgage loan), the medium term (car and student loan or line of credit) and the short term (credit card).

It would be inspired by France, where it is forbidden to exceed the average rate by more than a third. Result: for a mortgage loan of 400,000 dollars, a Frenchman today pays around 600 dollars less per month than a Quebecer.

Would there be perverse effects? For example, will banks refuse loans to certain citizens? The CAQ government can verify this if it dares to study the bill. A great way to protect purchasing power without reducing your own income.

M^me Rizqy had to work within Quebec jurisdictions – usurious practices fall under the Criminal Code, which is federal. However, she hopes that her approach will encourage Ottawa to tighten the usurious rate – the current threshold is 60%. And our merchants shouldn’t be paying Interac fees almost three times higher than in the United States.

Judging by the polls and elements of its program, Québec solidaire can sometimes seem a little out of touch with the day-to-day concerns of voters. However, it was he who defended a fundamental idea in the debate: before being an investment tool, housing is an essential need to which everyone should be entitled.

As we know, poverty is particularly prevalent among seniors. In 2016, Françoise David had achieved a rare feat: to unanimously adopt an opposition bill. Usually they are not even studied.

Thanks to it, low-income tenants aged 70 and over cannot be evicted from their accommodation if they have lived there for more than 10 years. These criteria stemmed from a compromise to rally all elected officials.

With the housing crisis, the left party believes that the law needs to be strengthened. Its deputy Christine Labrie now wants to apply it to seniors aged 65 and over who have occupied a dwelling for five years. She also wants to expand the income to be covered by the law (up to 150% of the maximum income making eligible for social housing, against 100% at the moment).

Will landlords be reluctant to rent to seniors? Difficult to predict the impacts on housing supply. The current law is not well enough known. Elders unfortunately do not invoke it.

A law professor at UQAM, Martin Gallié, has just tabled a report on the case law of this law. This is the kind of speaker we would like to hear in a parliamentary committee.

A bit like the Liberals, the Solidaires want to attack large corporations that enrich themselves by imposing unreasonable fees. They are coming back with a bill to cap the bill for delivery services like Uber Eats and DoorDash. During the pandemic, the CAQ government had limited these costs to 20%. However, this was an emergency measure which was not renewed.

These platforms are useful, but in the absence of real competition, our restaurateurs are prisoners of a system that siphons off their fragile income.

The PQ were the great victims of our voting system. With their three MPs and their meager parliamentary budget, they do not have the means to adequately cover all the subjects. Nevertheless, they have succeeded in bringing the subject of food waste back to the agenda.

In December, the COP15 on biodiversity set itself the target of reducing this waste by 50%. This will not be done only by relying on individual initiatives. For grocers, the incentives are lacking.

The PQ are working on a bill to prohibit the “giants” from throwing away their still edible foodstuffs. They would be forced to upgrade them or send them to food banks.

This fine intention will have to be translated into adequate means. For example, it will be necessary to ensure that the community sector will have the resources to receive this food. But at the very least, this is a problem that deserves attention.

This is further proof that if we accuse the opposition parties of getting lost in smoke shows, it is also because we have difficulty looking elsewhere when there is smoke.