The Quebec Bar supports the principle of reforming the 50-year-old Expropriation Act, but deplores the decline in the rights of expropriated persons to fair and full compensation found therein.
“The goal of the bill is to find a balance, not simply to reduce the costs linked to acquisitions by expropriation, but more to avoid abuses while ensuring the protection of the rights of the expropriated,” said Me Sylvain Bélair before the members of the parliamentary committee.
“This is perhaps where the bill, in our opinion, is a little lacking, that is to say that in order to reduce the costs linked to expropriations, we sacrifice in certain respects the rights of expropriated to be fairly fully compensated,” added Me Bélair, representative of the Bar in matters of expropriation with 35 years of experience in the field.
On Wednesday, the Urban Development Institute of Quebec, a lobby for real estate developers, also deplored that the bill tabled by Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault took away rights from expropriated people.
During his testimony, Me Bélair wanted to set the record straight by emphasizing that the cases handled by the Administrative Tribunal of Quebec did not suffer from undue delays.
“There is no need to make such a substantial reform in terms of compensation,” he continued. I do not agree with those who said that there is a shift and that there is an abuse in the cases before the Administrative Court. I have plenty of examples to the contrary. »
The lawyer also reminded elected officials that the Expropriation Act has a general scope which does not only concern developers, owners of wooded land of interest and golf courses, but also private residences that are must expropriate during the redevelopment of an intersection, for example.
“We must be very careful not to revolutionize the entire compensation system on the grounds that we want to respond to challenges that exist, but which can be resolved, in my opinion, other than to the detriment of the private owner of a building,” warned Me Bélair.
The solidarity MP for Taschereau, Étienne Grandmont, mentioned that he had been told that the right to property was not enshrined in the charters. He read the article of the Quebec Charter indicating that an individual has the right to the enjoyment of his property, except to the extent provided by law. “I would like you to explain to me, if the law is changed, how is it correct to move forward? », asked Mr. Grandmont to representatives of the Barreau du Québec. “We recognize the power of expropriating bodies to carry out expropriations in exchange for fair and prior compensation. It’s a question of balance. The message of our memory is that there is a way to have a balance in a better way,” replied Nicolas Le Grand Alary, secretary of the professional order.
After real estate developers, the Montreal Economic Development Institute and the Order of Chartered Appraisers, the employers’ association of home builders joined the criticism of Bill 22 aimed at modernizing the Expropriation Act. “Today, we are sending the message to entrepreneurs that they have a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, and that they can at any time be dispossessed of their property without fair and equitable compensation. We fear that this reform will hamper investments in Quebec and jeopardize real estate projects in favor of other Canadian provinces, at a time when housing needs are acute,” underlines, in a press release, Maxime Rodrigue, CEO of the Association of construction and housing professionals of Quebec (APCHQ).