Claude Lachance | Homelessness, wealth and taxes

The Press has an appointment with Claude Lachance in his offices at Place du Commerce in L’Île-des-Sœurs. Finally, no photo: he does not have permission from the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, he says. “I have agreements with institutional partners for everything that is journalistic or image-related. »

The Fund has invested 50 million to date in its new “Cité de l’Île”. Valued between “1.5 and 1.7 billion” according to him, the project provides for four new buildings of 10 to 26 floors: housing, shops, hotel and residence for the elderly.

The 64-year-old businessman can also count on loans from the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. She took mortgage guarantees of $300 million on most of the properties that Lachance assembled: 29,000 square meters (312,000 square feet) of parking lots and wasteland. The equivalent of four soccer fields, right in front of the new Réseau express métropolitain (REM).

For the future, the promoter says he is “in full negotiations” with his partners.

“Last year, all institutional investors were in wait and see mode,” he says. Will there be a reduction in the key rate? Two or three ? Everyone has their crystal ball. It’s really special. »

The shallows…

For the developer, L’Île-des-Sœurs represents a return to basics. He began his career in the early 1980s with his father Jean-Claude Lachance, who designed a series of condo buildings in the neighborhood, such as the Verrières towers on the river.

The developer then experienced dark years, after studies in architecture at Laval University were never completed. He readily discusses his chaotic journey: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), “self-medication” with alcohol and “cocaine in support”… These problems caused his long decline, to the point of near bankruptcy. half a million in 2004 – his second – then eight months of homelessness in 2005.

He then got back in control thanks to a detoxification treatment at Maison Jean-Lapointe. “Everything I had fit in a travel bag. »

Then the rebound

Claude Lachance then returned to real estate. “I started from scratch. »

In 2006, he made an offer to purchase land in Little Italy, then asked a former client to become his partner. “He told me: ‘No, Claude, it’s too fresh, you’ve just come out of therapy…’”

However, the ex-client bought back his offer for $150,000, he says. “I took that, I acquired land for 100,000, I made small condos, then off we went. »

One thing led to another, the developer tackled bigger and bigger projects… not without several clashes: with buyers, with the Order of Architects of Quebec (see other text) and, above all, with the government.

In permanent war against the tax authorities

When the tax authorities poked their noses into Claude Lachance’s accounts in 2012, they discovered more than $1 million in undeclared income and personal expenses paid by his real estate businesses, from 2007 to 2011.

The state taxed the developer for those prior years, as required by law in cases of “gross negligence,” omissions or misrepresentations. But Mr. Lachance refused to pay.

The affair dragged on. In 2018, he presented a medical defense: “ADHD, sleep apnea and problems with alcohol and cocaine use” would have had “a catastrophic effect” on him. The State could therefore not blame him for his tax discrepancies, he argued.

The case was settled out of court in 2019. For how much? Claude Lachance refuses to say it.

The tax authorities are on the attack again

In 2015, the developer tackled with partners his first major concrete project: the Murray, in Griffintown, two 15-story condo towers, on the street of the same name.

But the government quickly discovered that his company GCA Real Estate Creators had collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes on condos and fees, without ever remitting them to the state. The company also obtained unjustified tax refunds on personal expenses.

The bill swelled over time to approach 2 million, including penalties and interest. In October 2019, Quebec and Ottawa obtained judgments to have their money seized.

They came back empty-handed: when the bailiff showed up at the company’s offices, she had “moved without leaving an address,” according to a report filed in court.

He still says he is not responsible

Today, the government holds Claude Lachance responsible for debts that his former construction company never repaid.

But as in 2018, his lawyer cites his “consumption problems, attention deficit and sleep apnea”.

In an interview, Mr. Lachance does not wish to expand on the subject. “If I’ve made any mistakes in my recovery, that’s something that’s going to be fixed,” he said.

The last case, however, dates from 2015 and 2016. Even last December in the Court of Quebec, Mr. Lachance’s lawyer argued that he “does not incur liability” for unremitted taxes linked to the Murray project. , 10 years after his remission. The case would in any case be “time-barred”, he adds.

“I pay a lot, a lot of taxes, OK? replied Mr. Lachance. Then we have disputes with taxes, like many people who work in this profession. »

A judge took the matter under advisement.

The quasi-public millions, in the middle of a tax dispute

Nothing, in any case, to slow down Claude Lachance in his rise. The Fonds FTQ began financing its L’Île-des-Sœurs project in April 2020, six months after the judgments that the government had obtained to seize its millions from its company. The Fund followed five months later.

The Quebecois’ nest egg refused to say exactly how much it lent for the Nuns’ Island project. In an email, the director of media relations, Kate Monfette, assures that the sum actually lent is “well below” the guarantees of 300 million registered in the land register.

Without commenting further, the Caisse ensures that it has “followed all the usual stages of due diligence, analysis and approval”, including “a risk-return analysis”.

The Fonds FTQ, for its part, says it expects “all of its partners to respect the laws,” according to its spokesperson, Frédérique Lavoie-Gamache. “The Fund does not publicly address specific situations with partners and in particular, those which are in legal process. »