If the game plan in architecture and land use planning tabled Monday by the Legault government had been presented 10 years ago, it would have been called daring.
Today it is barely enough.
Quebec is facing two major crises, two crises perfectly summed up in a photo published Monday in The Press : that of two men masked because of the smoke who carried a cardboard box up a staircase. The climate crisis and the housing crisis united in a single image.
Faced with the urgency of the situation, a strong response from the public authorities is expected.
The CAQ government has not been able to respond adequately to the housing crisis, but it has the merit of having dusted off a 43-year-old land use planning policy. His vision makes the right diagnoses. Roughly summarized, the challenges are as follows: curb urban sprawl, protect biodiversity, densify, build housing that meets demographic needs (fewer large energy-guzzling houses, more condos and housing), promote the development of public transport . And make it all beautiful.
Nearly half a century without any vision of land use planning and architecture, it leaves traces. The Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, and the Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, parents of the new implementation plan, seem to be aware of this. The problem is that they are not given the means to fulfill their ambitions.
City infrastructures are in poor condition, several municipalities lack water, our cities are still too dependent on the car and nature is too often sacrificed in favor of development.
However, with an envelope of $360 million over four years, one wonders how they will be able to give the needed boost.
Their plan includes several interesting measures, starting with the establishment, by winter 2024, of a monitoring system – accompanied by indicators and targets – which will make it possible to follow the development plans throughout of Quebec. This is a useful tool for making informed decisions.
Among the other good initiatives: the creation of a road safety consultation table, adjustments to the tax system (a consultation will be launched next fall), a new architectural framework, better conservation of natural environments and the setting up exchange committees with the First Nations.
Most of the 360 million ($239 million) envelope will go to MRCs and municipalities to update their climate plan. The cities claimed 2 billion, we imagine that other sums will be granted when we negotiate a new fiscal pact.
In the same way, it is to be hoped that the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, will grant cities the means to develop public transport. We cannot ask them to “develop living environments that promote sustainable mobility” without money to do so. Have you ever tried to travel by bus from one city to another on the South Shore or in the North Shore? A real Way of the Cross.
If we want to get rid of the solo car, this government must invest less in roads and more in public transportation.
There are also some gray areas in this shot. We say, for example, that we want to “support economic development and increase the vitality of territories” while respecting their particularities, a wording that leaves a lot of room for interpretation.
The Minister of Municipal Affairs now has the power to prohibit any development that deviates from the spirit of the new Planning and Town Planning Act, adopted unanimously two weeks ago. Let’s hope she takes advantage of it.
The moment of truth for this plan will really take place when Minister Laforest comes up against the economic development goals of the Prime Minister and his Minister of the Economy. Or the announced reform of the Agricultural Land Act.
That is where we will know if this government is truly coherent.