The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Andrée Laforest, declared Tuesday that there are “trends” in urban development, without affirming – like her colleague Minister of Transport – that densification is a “fad”. manifested by the sending of families to high-rise housing.
“In urban development, yes, there are trends,” she said during question period in the National Assembly. “Now there is a way to build differently. There are “plex”, there are row houses, there are multi-generational houses. So, yes, there are ways,” she continued.
Minister Laforest recalled that she was preparing to table the national policy on architecture and land use planning, a “very audacious” plan which must, in particular, reform the Act respecting land use planning and development, unchanged for over 40 years old.
“Give us a few days or a few weeks. And yes, we will now have a vision for Quebec in terms of development, ”she promised. Andrée Laforest must give a taste of this policy on Friday, as part of the congress of the Union of Quebec municipalities. The entire CAQ vision will be unveiled later in the spring.
Unease around the word “fashion”
The minister responded Tuesday to questions from the opposition, who sought to know if she shared the point of view of the Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, who persists in saying that urban densification is a “fashion”.
On April 15, the elected official presented a new version of the third link between Quebec and Lévis, a project around which a broad scientific consensus has emerged on the fact that it will contribute to increasing the development of the suburbs. “Who am I to say to a young family: ‘since fashion is becoming denser, you’re going to live in a 12-storey tower’? M. Bonnardel then launched.
His statement caused unease among mayors, who told The Press that urban densification remains, for them, a necessary means of curbing climate change. To this was added on Monday the opinion of the main group responsible for advising the government on environmental matters. The latter has published a document in which he insists on the need to densify the urban fabric.
“Densification is necessary, it is essential. And no, no, Mr. Minister, densification does not mean raising a family in a condo downtown. There are all sorts of ways to proceed, and you know it, ”said Liberal MP André Fortin on Tuesday. He criticized Minister Bonnardel for having “ideas straight out of the 1950s”.
A “past date” party
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, of Québec solidaire, referred to the same decade. “We must also curb urban sprawl, we must develop our territory in a different way. We can no longer repeat the recipes of the 1950s, ”he pleaded.
At the Blue Room, he recalled that the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, declared in March that the third link could serve as a brake on urban sprawl. He criticized the Prime Minister, François Legault, for raising the acceptable thresholds for the concentration of nickel in the air despite the unfavorable opinion of the 18 regional directors of public health in Quebec, among others.
“That is the result of four years of government, of a party that is ‘outdated’. On too many environmental issues, we are stagnating. On others, we are backing down, “said Mr. Nadeau-Dubois.
Mr. Legault responded by pleading for a “balance”. “We all agree that the big cities must become denser, but there are regions that have the right to develop, there are Quebecers who have the right to live in the regions of Quebec,” he underlined, criticizing the parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire for holding a different speech in Montreal and in the regions.
“Québec solidaire wants to place a moratorium on the development of the regions. We think that the regions should be developed. And to serve the regions, well yes, it takes roads, ”he also launched.
“It’s not a battle between cities and regions,” replied Mr. Nadeau-Dubois. This is not a battle between cities and suburbs. It’s a battle that everyone in Quebec must fight together, no matter where they live, because it’s a battle to ensure that our children have a future. »
In the Parti Québécois, MP Méganne Perry Mélançon denounced the remarks of Minister Bonnardel, who “never stops making statements that reveal his ‘outdated’ vision of the development and protection of Quebec’s territory”, to his opinion.
“The difference between urban densification and the CAQ: one is not a fashion, the other risks being one, also launched his colleague Pascal Bérubé. The urban densification described as a fad by the Minister of Transport, who is interfering in a municipal file, must be noted. »