This text is part of the special section Municipalities
After two years as president of the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ), Daniel Côté resigns with regret, because he loved everything about a mandate marked by two world crises. “I arrived during COVID and I’m leaving with inflation,” jokes the mayor of Gaspé and prefect of his MRC.
The UMQ is a complex organization that brings together 390 municipalities, large and small, and which must defend a considerable number of issues very close to people, ranging from housing to the fight against homelessness, including the police, security public, public transport, taxation, cleanliness.
“I was able to move the lines on the three major policies that I had considered priorities when I arrived, namely climate change, regional economic development and inclusion,” said the 43-year-old elected official, who will spend the torch to his successor during the Assises de l’UMQ with the feeling of accomplishment. “For the record, I am also proud to have been not only the youngest mayor elected to the presidency of the UMQ, but also the first Gaspésien in 102 years of history. »
Changing the climate narrative
In terms of climate change, he believes that he has contributed to changing the discourse of the Quebec government, which was essentially focused on the fight. “We must continue to fight against climate change, but we must also adapt to it. It is a new reality. »
Because even if governments achieved all their control objectives (something less and less likely), cities would still have to deal with the effects of climate change, which will particularly affect two of their fundamental functions: roads and water management. ‘water. The UMQ has commissioned the engineering firm WSP and the research group Ouranos to carry out a study on the subject, which estimates the repercussions between 1.7 and 2.7 billion dollars per year for municipalities – until 2050. , at least. And according to this same document, 43% of the bill will go to roads (roads, culverts, erosion control) and 54% will concern water management (drinking, river, waste).
“We had zero contribution for this and we got the government to create the first programs, which now amount to a few hundred million dollars a year. It is below requirements, but it has already come a long way. »
Accommodate the workforce
During his summer 2022 regional tour, Daniel Côté met more than 400 elected officials from all regions. In addition to having enabled him to develop a concrete vision of the work of his colleagues, these visits strengthened his conviction that he had not made a mistake in focusing his economic action on the housing crisis and the labor shortage. work, which is hampering all regional development.
In November 2021, the UMQ joined the Conseil du patronat and four other national economic organizations in demanding a plan and proposing a series of measures, which the government took up 10 days later in its Opération main-d’oeuvre . The first actions revolved around tax measures, the retention of experienced workers and the automation of businesses.
But the centerpiece of this action is about to succeed: it is a national strategy for the regionalization of immigration. “There is a very significant imbalance. The regions represent 50% of labor needs, but the Montreal region receives 80% of immigrants. »
The mayor of Gaspé explains that we must work on primary immigration, that which concerns direct settlement in the region as soon as you get off the plane. “During the first two to three years following their arrival, immigrants must do their formalities in person at the offices of Immigration Canada, which are in Montreal and Quebec. This means that an immigrant who would come to settle in Gaspé by disembarking from the plane must travel 1000 km each time he has to sign a paper. »
The housing crisis is the other major obstacle to regional development that the mayor of Gaspé has tackled. He knows the problem well: “The vacancy rate in Gaspé is 0.0%. There is no vacant accommodation. We have nothing, zero, to welcome new workers. It’s almost everywhere below 1%, whereas 3% vacancy would be needed to have a balanced market. »
“Housing is the kind of multi-cause problem that means you have to tackle the problem in more than one way. Labor shortages are hurting the construction industry, but contractors are also having to contend with overheated material prices, which have risen 30%, three times faster than inflation. But for the first time, housing now has its own ministry, and that’s something. »
The UMQ was delighted to see the government create a public-private partnership called the Quebec Affordable Housing Program, but Daniel Côté said he was very disappointed that the government took the opportunity to abolish the AccèsLogis program, which favored the development of by NPOs. “It was a good program, which was blocked by red tape from the government. It should not be cut, in our opinion. »
Include and be included
In terms of inclusion, Daniel Côté wanted to focus on immigration, which we have already discussed, but also on First Nations and the representation of cities abroad. “With respect to the First Nations, the first thing we can do, as a municipality, is to encourage the hiring of Aboriginal personnel. »
“As a municipality, we could also make a strong symbolic gesture around indigenous languages. Gaspé, it comes from the Micmac language and it means “the end of the lands”. But if I want to display “Pjila’si Gespeg” [bienvenue à Gaspé] in Micmac, it goes against the Quebec law on signage: the City risks losing all its subsidies! Could we not tell ourselves that Aboriginal languages do not threaten the French language in Quebec? »
Regarding inclusion, he has also worked on the international representation of municipalities. With the Association of Mayors of France, he is working on the creation of a summit on decentralized cooperation. “It is in the spirit of the International Summit for Innovation in Median Cities, an initiative that dates back to 2018 on which the mayor of Shawinigan worked a lot. »
The city on the front line
Elected for two years in 2021, Daniel Côté did not have to taste what will be the big chunk of his successor’s mandate: the renegotiation of the famous “fiscal pact”, an exercise that has been repeated every four years since 2012, and the fourth occurrence of which is scheduled for 2024.
“Economic growth has long been detached from property value, which is the main tax base for municipalities. However, the municipalities should be able to tax the new wealth that is created outside of land, and which is the responsibility of Quebec and Ottawa. »
However, at the same time, cities are given more and more responsibilities, whether it be the fight against homelessness, housing or climate change. Even in public transit, the share of Quebec is decreasing. “Sometimes it’s the law that transfers responsibilities to us, but more often it happens spontaneously. But when the government is slow to react, people turn first to the city. It’s normal, we’re here. »
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.