Regional county municipalities (RCMs) are turning their noses up at a new power entrusted to them by the Cultural Heritage Act. Nearly two years after being granted the ability to cite heritage assets, they have not done so once, found The duty.
“No MRC has yet exercised this power for the moment”, simply wrote the Ministry of Culture when questioned on this subject.
Amended in April 2021 by the former Minister of Culture Nathalie Roy, the Cultural Heritage Act grants the RCMs the legislative tools to cite a heritage property or site — and therefore, in theory, ensure its preservation and enhancement. value. Their reluctance to use them was predictable, however, advances the agent in advice and positions at Action patrimoine Félix Rousseau.
“The MRCs, we suspected that they would not necessarily want to interfere in the affairs of the municipalities,” he says on the other end of the line.
Like the RCMs, local municipalities have had the power to cite heritage buildings or sites since 1985. Since the last amendments to the Act, 46 of them have done so. But Quebec law still lets valuable goods slip through the cracks, says Rousseau.
“There are certain RCMs that we feel are really motivated and that will eventually use this power. In some others, it is more uncertain, ”he analyzes.
Demolition alert
In Beauce, the convent of Saint-Gédéon is threatened with demolition. Owner, the municipality does not intend to cite him, because of the excessive maintenance costs associated with the building. “Grants don’t give me anything. It’s a rotten gift! If you take a subsidy, you have to put in part of it,” the mayor of this city recently confided to the To have to. But at the moment, there is no sign of life from the MRC either.
“The idea that RCMs can cite [des biens patrimoniaux], I can’t wait to see the real results of that, ”said the president of the Quebec Federation of Municipalities (FQM), Jacques Demers, in an interview. “The decision to cite [ces biens] will probably come more from the municipalities than from the RCMs. »
And even. The costs associated with maintaining or repairing a heritage building are “exploding,” says Mr. Demers. Citing a good therefore comes with costs, he points out. “The MRCs do not tax anyone. You know where the RCMs’ money comes from: the municipalities. There is no detour to that, ”he says.
The president of the FQM rejects part of the blame on the Ministry of Culture, which “was to provide a guide” for the preparation of an inventory of the real estate heritage in the RCMs. “This guide was finally ready in September 2022. We were asked to do things according to a guide, but the guide did not exist”, he raises.
Since the adoption of the new law, the RCMs have had the obligation to draw up an inventory of the buildings built before 1940 on their territory. This tool, which they must return by 2026, is supposed to promote the citation of so-called heritage buildings.
In the meantime, difficult to quote anything when you have no idea of the state of the park with heritage value at home, explains the president of the Commission for Culture, Leisure and Community Life of the Union of the municipalities of Quebec, Benoit Lauzon. “What currently concerns the MRCs is above all to enter into the obligation to take inventory and adopt regulations in terms of demolition and maintenance. After that, I think we’re going to see quotes popping up here and there,” he says.
Additional avenues?
Félix Rousseau “prefers to see the glass half full”. It invites the RCMs to use the additional planning powers entrusted to them by the new law. “The MRC d’Argenteuil has just adopted an interim control regulation,” he says. As long as all the municipalities in the territory have not adopted a demolition by-law in good and due form, it is this by-law that will apply, which will make it possible to avoid demolitions. »
The MRCs may not have used their citation powers, but the reform is going well, assures the Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, in a written statement sent to the To have to. “It is an exaggeration to claim that the new version of the Cultural Heritage Law has had no effect. […] Municipalities must be given time to acquire the tools provided for in the Act. It’s a process that can take a long time,” he says.