(Quebec) François Legault is committed to reforming the law on expropriation and giving the right of first refusal to municipalities, but flatly refuses to review the taxation of cities, which want to get out of the shackles of property tax.
Posted at 11:28
“By the end of the session, we will give you a right of first refusal on land in your municipalities. I will make another commitment: in the next mandate, we will also adopt a law on expropriations, ”launched the Prime Minister Thursday during his visit to the Assises of the Union of Quebec Municipalities.
For the moment, only the city of Montreal has the right of first refusal, which allows it to “buy in priority over any other buyer certain buildings or land in order to carry out projects for the benefit of the community”. Several other cities demanded this power.
As for the law on expropriation, the mayors were asking for a reform of this law, because at the moment, the cities find themselves having to compensate the owner for the potential income that he could draw from his land, which becomes very costly for taxpayers. In addition, the legal challenge process can drag on and slow down projects, particularly public transit. The UMQ was delighted with these two promises.
However, the Prime Minister is turning a deaf ear to a third historic demand from municipalities, whose revenues are essentially based on one thing, property taxes. And the more a city develops new neighborhoods, the greater its revenue. Several elected officials make a direct link between this method of taxation and urban sprawl.
no more money
For François Legault, however, Quebec does not have the means to give tax room to cities. “The mayors know that I am a direct guy. I will be direct. We too have a deficit in Quebec, and our government employees earn 30% less than employees who have the same positions in the municipalities, ”said Mr. Legault in front of the floor of elected municipal officials. Yet, recently, he mentioned the promise to cut taxes during the fall election campaign.
Mr. Legault told the mayors that “our taxes and our income taxes are in the ceiling” and that they are “communicating vessels”. However, he says he is “open to suggestions”.
François Legault also addressed the debate between densification and urban sprawl. Its Transport Minister François Bonnardel was criticized for claiming that densification was a “fad”. However, as written The Press this morning, in his book Heading for a winning Quebecpublished in 2013, François Legault deplored the disadvantages of urban sprawl, favored the rehabilitation of contaminated land in the city rather than dezoning agricultural land and pleaded for the conversion of highways into urban boulevards.
Mr. Legault referred to it in his speech. “It is important, yes, to densify our cities, to limit urban sprawl, and one of the ways of doing this is to decontaminate the land that is in our cities. For me, it is a priority,” he said.
Legault defends the third link
In the same breath, however, he defended his highway tunnel project between Quebec and Lévis. “We have the right to develop a second major metropolis in Quebec. Part of it will be done with the densification in Quebec, but we will have to put these people everywhere, and we will have to ensure that we continue to develop Chaudière-Appalaches and the regions, “he said. he says.
He also reserved a well-cooked for the mayor of Quebec Bruno Marchand, who the day before accused his government of holding a “populist” and “misleading” speech on urban sprawl, associated with the economic development of the regions.
Mr. Legault hailed the former mayor of Quebec Régis Labeaume, the “chronicler of The Press “. “Basically, it was easy to work with you Régis,” he said. He wants to “develop an unconditional friendship”, with Mr. Marchand, and promises to “densify” his relationship with him.
Opposition to Marchand’s Defense
PHOTO YAN DOUBLET, THE SUN
Bruno Marchand
In the National Assembly, the opposition parties all lined up behind Mayor Bruno Marchand.
“I think he said aloud what pretty much everyone thinks quietly and I think that the populism of the government, it is in several subjects”, launched the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who praised the “courage” of many new mayors who publicly denounce the Legault government.
“In Quebec politics, we always say that mayors stick to power, will remain silent to try to get what they need for their city. But, at the moment, the government’s statements and directions are so misleading and so far from reality that there are mayors who have enough sense of responsibility to rectify the facts,” he added. Thursday.
Québec solidaire MNA Andrés Fontecilla for his part recalled “the essential role [en matière] of opposition” played by the municipalities.
“We see that opposition is increasing in Quebec [devant] this arrogance of Legault government which believes to have the science infused. Usually, the municipalities, which are rather very diplomatic in relation to the government there, they raise their voices, they dare to publicly oppose various projects of the Government of Quebec, that indicates that there is something,” maintains- he.
Liberal leader Dominique Anglade, for her part, believes that a head-on collision is brewing between cities and the government of the Coalition avenir Québec on the front lines of the climate change, labor and housing crisis.
“These three elements definitely lead us to a crossroads. There are important decisions that have to be made that are not made by the government because we put our heads in the sand,” she explained.