(Quebec) Conservative leader Éric Duhaime recommends that the Legault government not adopt Bill 198 of Québec solidaire (QS) aimed at expanding the Françoise David law.
With its legislative piece, QS wants to protect a greater number of vulnerable seniors from evictions. If the intention is “noble”, Mr. Duhaime nevertheless says he is concerned about possible “perverse effects”.
“Everyone wants to come to the defense of seniors,” he declared at a press briefing on Monday. But we think […] that the perverse effects will have the exact opposite effect to that which is sought. »
For example, there will be more and more “discrimination based on age”, that is to say that landlords will have an interest in knowing the age of people who want to rent their accommodation, according to him.
Many could, in a “subtle” way, refuse to rent their apartments to seniors: an owner who has the choice between a 30-year-old tenant and another 63-year-old will choose the 30-year-old, he illustrated.
Furthermore, housing “will suffer from underinvestment”, believes Mr. Duhaime, who warns that the real estate stock will consequently “degrade”.
The Conservative leader also thinks that Bill 198 puts off investors who risk turning away from rental real estate “given that it is […] one more check.”
“At a time of the housing crisis, what must be done is exactly the opposite, that is to say, the government must stop wanting to control rents in Quebec even more .
“It must increasingly liberalize the market to allow us to build more,” argued Mr. Duhaime.
180 degree turn of the CAQ denounced
The law commonly known as the “Françoise David law”, adopted in 2016, stipulates that a senior over 70 with a very low income who has lived in their home for more than 10 years cannot be evicted.
Last year, QS MP Christine Labrie concluded, however, that more needed to be done to protect a greater number of senior tenants “from the increasing number of wild evictions.”
She presented Bill 198, “An Act to amend the Civil Code to ensure greater protection for senior tenants against repossessions or evictions.”
The objective was to broaden the criteria to include people aged 65 and over who have lived in their home for at least five years.
The Legault government was initially reluctant to adopt Bill 198, but has since changed its tone mainly to “look good,” according to Mr. Duhaime.
“We are very surprised by the government’s 180-degree turn on this issue, we don’t understand,” he said on Monday. These are good feelings, but they don’t make good laws.
“There is an economic logic that is completely forgotten, there are property rights that are violated,” he added.
Called by the Legault government following an agreement concluded with QS, Bill 198 has today reached the stage of adoption in principle.