On Wednesday, it was to the great surprise of all provincial governments that the Government of Canada announced that it wanted to create a Canadian Tenants Charter as part of the federal budget which will be proposed on April 16. As the federal government wants, once again, to invade a field of jurisdiction that belongs to the provinces, Quebec must impose itself.
Ottawa claims to want to help reduce the housing crisis, and we cannot deny that it is very present in the country. However, with Canada’s immigration policy, which brings many immigrants to the country, of course the lack of housing is increasing and their market prices are increasing. Didn’t the Trudeau government say that reducing the immigration rate could be a solution? As Jean-François Roberge mentioned, 55% of asylum seekers are in Quebec (“Trudeau wants to create a Canadian Tenants Charter, no way, says Quebec”, The duty, March 27, 2024). In addition, we must not forget temporary immigrants. According to Statistics Canada, in 2023, there would be 174,200 of them in Quebec, a much higher figure than in previous years.
We can admit that the proposals that would be part of the Charter are good, but two of the three cannot be implemented by the federal government. By what right does he still dare to want to intrude? Canada is a federalist country, in other words, the two levels of government are independent in their jurisdictions. Housing, housing court and tenancies are provincial jurisdictions. At no time could Ottawa have the right to force a modification of the Civil Code of Quebec. Quebec therefore does not have to accept such an intrusion.
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