François Legault is hopeful that no household will end up on the street on 1er next July. The Prime Minister also reiterated his confidence in the Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, even though she carried out a real estate “flip” and held an official meeting with a business partner and long-time friend last fall.
“I have four 1er July of experience and it went well during these four 1er July,” said the Prime Minister on the sidelines of a press conference on food self-sufficiency on Monday. “When I say that it went well, it means that no one ended up on the street,” he added, specifying that households had to live temporarily in hotels or accommodation. emergency.
François Legault had to come forward on the housing crisis in particular because of a report by The Press who mentioned on Monday that more and more older women are finding themselves in shelters for the homeless. Organizations are poorly suited for this clientele, which is sometimes disabled.
A report on the Canadian Rental Housing Index, also released on Monday, shows that a quarter of Quebec households allocate 30% of their income to renting accommodation. Worse, 9% of Quebec tenants reserve 50% of their salary to afford a roof.
The Prime Minister pointed out that an investment of one billion dollars to promote the construction of affordable housing was announced during the presentation of the budget last spring.
“We want to make sure that it builds, that there are hammers, nails that sink. But there is a challenge,” he said. “We will finance either directly the construction of housing, or buy existing housing, or give assistance for access to housing”, he listed.
“The housing crisis is first and foremost a lack of housing currently and for several years,” he said, adding that the construction of this type of housing can take between five and six years and that the Minister of Housing is working to reduce these delays.
“If a person can succeed […]it is she »
François Legault also reiterated his confidence in the Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau. Last week, the news media Pivot as well as The Press revealed that the Minister has already carried out a real estate “flip” with Annie Lemieux, a longtime friend.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Francois Legault, during the presentation of the candidacy of France-Élaine Duranceau in the riding of Bertrand, in August 2022.
The two women and other partners legally bought a duplex on De Chateaubriand Avenue in Montreal for $517,000 to transform it into five apartments. The apartments have been resold for more than 3 million.
The Prime Minister refused to say that the minister contributed to real estate speculation. “Look, people who are in real estate, they buy and they sell. It’s part of what’s done in real estate,” he said.
“It is certain that France-Élaine has a past in real estate. It’s a plus that she knows real estate. Now, his responsibility as minister is to develop affordable housing as quickly as possible. I think that if a person can succeed in unlocking projects, by being creative, it is her,” argued Mr. Legault.
Nor did the Prime Minister criticize the official meeting that took place between France-Élaine Duranceau and Annie Lemieux last fall. He assured that the business of the two women continues to exist because of an ongoing dispute and that their meeting was for the purpose of discussing the construction of a residence for the elderly. “It has nothing to do with what they have done in the past,” he argued.
Annie Lemieux has been registered as a lobbyist to intervene with the Minister responsible for Housing and the Minister responsible for Seniors, Sonia Bélanger, since last fall, one month after Ms.me Duranceau as minister.
The lobbyist’s mandate is to “exchange[r] on government orientations with regard to housing and accommodation for seniors in Quebec and the role of private companies in this matter”. According to the register of Lobbyisme Québec, the contact was to target certain “amendments to the Civil Code of Québec”.
According to the business register, the Minister of Housing appears as a shareholder or director of three companies alongside Annie Lemieux. These organizations are mentioned in the declaration of personal interests 2021-2022 published by the Commissioner of Ethics and Professional Conduct.
Last week, Minister Duranceau told The Press that she had “nothing to be ashamed of” concerning the meeting with Mme Lemieux and that she would do “the same thing” again if the opportunity arose.
Before being appointed Minister, Ms.me Duranceau was a real estate broker and also vice-president at Colliers International, which describes itself as the “world leader in real estate services and investment management”.
With Hugo Joncas and Charles-Eric Blais-Poulain