Quebec budget | Quebec “chooses to ignore the housing crisis”, accuses Valérie Plante

The Plante administration sharply criticized the provincial budget on Tuesday, accusing Quebec of “choosing to ignore the housing crisis.”

At the end of the day, the mayor published a press release in which she expressed her great disappointment with the lack of massive reinvestment in public transport and housing, her two priorities.

“The Government of Quebec’s 2023-2024 budget does not meet the demands that have been clearly expressed by the metropolis and the metropolitan region. […] The metropolis will mobilize its housing partners tomorrow to find solutions, ”she said in writing. She won’t speak out until tomorrow.

“By ignoring the housing crisis, the Government of Quebec is further precarious the affordability of the metropolis and the wallets of thousands of families. He will have to explain his choice,” the mayor continued. On the transit front, the $400 million in emergency aid for transit companies is welcome, but a five-year commitment would have been better, Plante said.

The president of the executive committee of Valérie Plante, Dominique Ollivier, had moved to Quebec to hear the Minister of Finance Eric Girard. She came out of the blue room disappointed. “You get very little – to say nothing – on both counts” of housing and public transit, Ms. Ollivier said in a phone interview. “We are frankly disappointed. I don’t think it’s too much to say. »

Dominique Ollivier estimates that the funding announced by Quebec will make it possible to build barely 600 affordable housing units in Montreal. “Meanwhile, [they give] nine billion in tax cuts for individuals, that’s 50,000 homes. We could have solved the whole housing crisis” with this sum, she said.

In a press release, the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ) also expressed its disappointment.

“The budget does not provide any concrete measures to address inflation,” said UMQ President and Gaspé Mayor Daniel Côté. Today, municipalities are under more pressure than ever, as they face a significant increase in their responsibilities, while having to provide highly essential services to their citizens. All this with a considerable increase in costs in several sectors. By reducing the amounts provided for in the QIP for municipal infrastructure, we are clearly going in the wrong direction. »

Mr. Côté indicated that he would now turn to the Minister of Municipal Affairs to plead the cause of the municipal world.