(Quebec) The Legault government is undermining the right to property by wanting to reduce the compensation paid in the event of expropriation, believes the Urban Development Institute (IDU), the lobby of real estate developers. His upcoming bill is likely to chill investors, he said.
The Press revealed on Tuesday that the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, will table a bill this week to modify the Expropriation Actfor which she is responsible.
According to our information, the legislative text will ensure that the compensation will be fixed on the basis of the market value of the expropriated property and no longer of the “value to the owner”. Currently, the government and municipalities have to compensate a landowner for the potential income they could earn from their land, which drives up the bill. The government’s intention is that the compensation be fair and reasonable, that it neither impoverish nor enrich the owner.
Quebec has studied different scenarios in recent weeks to measure the difference between the old and the new expropriation regime. It would cost about 26% less under the new regime to expropriate a business depending on the scenario examined (2.1 million instead of 2.9 million). For a golf club, this would be a major saving of 43%: 7.7 million rather than 13.4 million. Finally, in the case of a residential building studied, the expropriating party would pay $355,600 instead of $383,900, a difference of $28,300.
The Union of Municipalities in favor
The Union of Quebec Municipalities has been demanding for years that Quebec amend the law to adopt the principle of “market value”. She argues that Ontario and British Columbia have embraced this change.
“It’s music to our ears,” said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante on Tuesday on the sidelines of an event bringing together the mayors of Greater Montreal. “It’s something we’ve been asking for for a very, very long time to give us oxygen, to give us the means to achieve our ambitions when it comes to acquiring land. »
However, the IDU maintains that the laws of these provinces are still largely inspired by the concept of “value to the owner” that has long been established by case law.
One cannot “quickly distance oneself from 100 years of property law enforcement that exists across Canada. The danger is to have lower compensation in Quebec than what is done elsewhere in Canada,” maintains its CEO, Jean-Marc Fournier.
Quebec must “measure the consequences” of such an initiative, according to him, especially when there is a lack of housing. “Already Quebec is the province where the property tax is the highest, if you add that the right of ownership has a lower recognized value in the event of expropriation, it will be a foil” for investors, pleads. -he.
The CEO analyzes that the government is thus trying to satisfy the municipalities, which are demanding more money from it, without taking out its wallet. “Rather than correcting the situation with a substantial tax pact, rather than doing something that will give cities the means, it gives them a tool to become buyers [de terrains] for less, and someone else will pay the subsidy,” he says.
With the collaboration of Philippe Teisceira-Lessard