This text is part of the special section Municipalities
“It is first the municipality that we call when there is a problem of mental health, homelessness, accommodation, housing. Nowadays, the police mainly respond to social issues, pleads the mayor of Percé, Cathy Poirier, who co-chairs the organizing committee of these hundredth annual meetings. On climate change, the IPCC does not say anything else: municipalities are at the forefront. »
According to Bruno Marchand, mayor of Quebec, the city hosting these conferences, the younger generation is particularly aware of the colossal impact of local governments. “That explains why so many young people were elected in the last elections, while this generation has long shunned the municipal. We are witnessing the rise of a real appetite for the municipal thing, because a city is no longer just garbage collection and snow removal. »
Younes Boukala, councilor for the borough of Lachine and co-chair of the organizing committee, expects a big convention, the first face-to-face since 2019, with nearly 1,500 participants gathered at the Convention Center. “The assizes are the highlight of the municipal world in Quebec. This is our Union. »
Mayor of a municipality located 1000 km from Montreal, Cathy Poirier judges that the sanitary measures will at least have had the merit of installing videoconferencing in the uses, which facilitates meetings. “But it takes a congress in attendance, because we are small social beasts. It’s inspiring to see each other because the municipal world is full of brilliant people who want to change the world. »
Bruno Marchand, for whom this will be the first meeting, is delighted that his city has been chosen as hostess. “It’s important for the city’s economy, yes, but even more so for our vitality. A capital is a place where we gather, where we discuss. For Quebec, it adds to our positioning as the city of the future. »
big program
The program of the event will touch on housing, the remuneration of elected officials, the electrification of transport, eco-taxation, land use, social media and even food autonomy.
According to Younes Boukala, the meetings aim to equip elected officials, and more particularly newcomers, after the last municipal elections which registered 50% of new elected municipal officials. He who had been in 2017 the youngest elected in the history of Montreal, at 22 years old, can testify to this. “It allows us to seek out the experiences of others. In terms of eco-taxation and transportation electrification, for example, I learned a lot during the last meetings. He also cites the example of the “village code”, implemented by the city of Pointe-Claire, and presented previously. A new work tool to facilitate the understanding and application of urban planning rules and which, he says, has greatly simplified the lives of citizens and municipal employees. “It’s inspiring. »
The UMQ has set up a two-headed organizing committee, because it was important to have two co-presidents representing the metropolises and the regions. Even for themes as unifying as housing and the environment, widely highlighted in the major forums of these meetings, the problem arises differently depending on the geographical location. “There is a shortage of housing in the regions, whereas in Montreal, the question is more one of affordability. So, if the Government of Quebec has a plan, it must be done with the municipalities because we know our territory. Wall to wall won’t work. »
“Food autonomy, how do we work on this at the city level? asks Bruno Marchand, who went on a tour at the beginning of April to encourage municipalities to transcend their territorial limits. He also congratulates the mayor of Prévost, Paul Germain, who will present his project to tax certain types of containers. “It shows that the initiative is possible, but also that we cannot leave it alone either. Major issues such as the environment and social and economic questions do not care about municipal barriers. We need to work together to solve problems that one city cannot solve alone. At the Urban Community of Quebec, we are working to develop this reflex. »
Bruno Marchand gives as an example the issue of the water supply of his city in Lake Saint-Charles, whose watershed includes six cities. “If these six cities develop in isolation and put bitumen everywhere and seal the ground, the lake will suffer. We are condemned to get along, otherwise we are dead. »
Claims heard
Even if the notion of local government remains to be won, according to Bruno Marchand, these hundredth meetings will mark a significant change in your tone vis-à-vis Quebec.
In 2017, in response to demands from municipalities, the Quebec government passed Bill 122, which sought to recognize municipalities as a level of government in their own right. For Montreal, which has a separate charter, it was Bill 121. These two bills increased the autonomy of municipalities and their power to tax. The cities have taken a few years to adjust, but these conferences will be the first great opportunity to take stock of the evolution in this regard.
This new pact has had effects everywhere, explains Cathy Poirier. Thus, in Percé, since 1er April, all transactions over $20 are subject to a $1 “regulatory fee”. “Citizens are exempt, as are non-taxable goods. It is not true that a small town of 3,000 inhabitants which receives half a million tourists a year can pay alone for the renewal of tourist infrastructures just with property tax. »
One of the most important aspects of the new law of the metropolis of Quebec is the right of first refusal, explains Younes Boukala. This new right, which supplements the power of expropriation, offers Montréal greater flexibility of action and will facilitate the realization of structuring projects. “It is the cities, for example, which now have the task of buying land for schools and therefore deciding on their location. We must therefore think about what is being built for 50, 100 years. A city does not have the luxury of missing out on such important development opportunities. »