We understand the general concern about a possible return of corruption in the field of real estate and city administration with the Duranceau bill. But more than a general disruption of the efforts of citizen groups, the daily commitments of professionals, responsible entrepreneurs and elected officials constantly working for a better world, it is the announcement of the blind conversion of the world of construction to world of rootless money that should worry us. We are invited to become deaf to the calls from whistleblowers about attacks on our built heritage and our landscapes, and to renounce the ambitions of the recent National Architecture and Regional Planning Policy.
Housing in Quebec deserves better than that. Flexibility does not constitute a substitute value in a pinch. It is fair to say that a national mobilization for housing is urgent, but this must be provided with substantial resources: review the alignment of public investment responses with demand on the ground, strengthen teams of professionals in municipalities, support entrepreneurs in their quality and accessibility objectives, invest in the training of research, design, management and construction stakeholders to do better with less. The government’s urgency for the public interest should be to act quickly to implement the national policy of architecture and land use planning with a priority for housing. There is no need to deconstruct to construct!
To watch on video