Should real estate transfer taxes, commonly known as a “welcome tax”, be called into question in Montreal? This is what the mayoral candidate Denis Coderre seemed to suggest, Monday evening, on Radio-Canada, during the second televised debate of the municipal campaign against the outgoing mayor, Valérie Plante.
“The question of the welcome tax is a bit indecent,” Mr. Coderre dropped. Our budget is 76% dependent on property taxes, so it’s time we reassessed that, diversified our sources of revenue and stopped procrastinating. I think we have to rethink this issue of the permutation tax, because that does not make sense. ”
Real estate transfer taxes, paid by buyers at the time of a real estate transaction, brought in 289 million to the City of Montreal in 2020, which represents 8% of the 3.6 billion collected by the City in taxes each year.
Valérie Plante declared, for her part, that her party would increase the eligibility ceiling for the Residential Acquisition Support Program. This allows households who acquire a property to receive financial compensation from the City at the time of purchase.
More civilized debate
During the one-hour face-to-face meeting, the exchanges were much more civilized than during the first televised debate between the candidates, last week on the TVA network. A third mayoral candidate, Balarama Holness, who took part in the TVA debate, was absent from the one organized by Radio-Canada.
Valérie Plante has repeatedly attacked her opponent’s promises, notably on housing, development in the east of the city and security, suggesting that they were unrealistic, unnecessary and improvised.
“Me, I do not do things on the edge of a table”, launched Mme Plante, in reference to Denis Coderre’s promise to provide police officers with portable cameras in the first 100 days of his mandate.
The leader of the Ensemble Montreal party criticized, for his part, the record of Mr.me Plante as mayor, repeating that her party, Projet Montreal, had done nothing in the past four years, including on the subject of mobility, street maintenance and cleanliness.
“The city is dirty, people see it,” he said. We are spending a projected budget of nearly $ 7 billion, and citizens have the impression that they do not have more services. There is a problem. ”
On the issue of rising housing prices, the first theme on which the candidates crossed swords, two opposing visions clashed: that of Denis Coderre, who relies on density and more flexible rules for the construction of housing affordable, and that of Valérie Plante, who believes that her regulation requiring developers to build 20% social housing, 20% affordable housing and 20% family housing is the solution.
“For me, housing is a fundamental right, and for Mr. Coderre, it is a consumer good,” said Mr.me Plant.
She also accused her opponent of holding a double talk, given that a candidate from her team, the real estate broker Antoine Richard, who is running for Verdun town hall, carried out real estate sales-purchase transactions ( flips) which allowed him to pocket large sums in a short time.
More cycle paths
The development of cycle paths was of course discussed, and the outgoing mayor of Montreal defended tooth and nail her achievements in this area, affirming that there was still a need for “more cycle paths, made intelligently on major axes” .
Denis Coderre defended himself from being “anti-cycling”. He too will continue to add cycle paths, he said, while adding that there was a need for better coexistence of bicycles with cars and pedestrians. “Mobility is stalled, we must stop being anti-car,” he pleaded.
The two candidates were in favor of the idea of banning gasoline vehicles in downtown Montreal. “We need to stop with gasoline cars,” agreed Mr. Coderre.
Addressing the subject of the fight against crime, the leader of Ensemble Montréal suggested that the Plante administration had been slow to tackle it seriously. “You’ve been there for four years. But on the ground, people are afraid, people need to have more police officers on the ground, ”he lamented.
He reiterated that, in his opinion, Montreal was not safe at the moment, referring to the numerous shootings which have followed one another for several months.
Valérie Plante retorted that it was “irresponsible”, in her opinion, for a mayoral candidate to make such an assertion, while tourism companies and universities are trying to attract more visitors to Montreal.
In case of defeat, Mme Plante said she intended to remain a city councilor, recalling that her opponent had “left the boat” after losing her post as mayor in 2017.
Mr. Coderre replied that four years ago he had to take care of his health, but this time he “wanted to stay”. “But plan A is to win, because I think Montreal needs new leadership,” he concluded.
With the collaboration of Pierre-André Normandin, Press