Critics slammed the Coalition Avenir Quebec last week after a surprise move to suspended close reading of Bill 31. Housing Minister France Elaine Duranceau says the pause will give her time to craft amendments to 24 articles, roughly two thirds of the bill. No one knows what those revisions will be, though we could see sessions resume as early as this week.
Quebec Solidaire's Alexandre Leduc criticized the Housing Minister's "disorganization" on this bill in front of reporters on Thursday. He said the whole process, from the tabling to the public hearings, has been a last-minute affair.
The controversial housing bill has faced major backlash from renters over a provision that will effectively end a tenant's right to transfer their lease. Though introduced as a means for tenants to leave a lease early without breaking it, lease transfers are now used as a means to keep apartments affordable from one tenant to the next. Taking over an existing lease gives tenants more protections against sky-high rent increases.
Minister Duranceau claims that provision, and the bill in general, are meant to rebalance the relationship between landlords and tenants. But that's not how groups like the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) see it.
The RCLALQ's Cedric Dussault says that landlords already hold the power in Quebec's hot rental market.
"When there is a change of tenants within an apartment, the landlords have no obstacle in fixing the price to the amount they want. And the last tiny obstacle they had was lease transfers."
Despite the public opposition to the bill, Dussault fears the revised bill will tilt even more in favour of landlords. He calls the rewrite "uncommon" and, given the Minister's past comments, "concerning."
It’s not all bad news for groups like the RCLALQ, however. Ottawa and Quebec recently announced they’re each investing $900 million in affordable housing in the province. Last week in the National Assembly, Quebec Solidaire’s Manon Massé passed a motion committing those funds for social, non-market housing.
After the CAQ’s history of divestment from social housing, Dussault says this is a step in the right direction – but only time will tell whether the CAQ follows through. In the meantime, he and the RCLALQ will keep fighting Bill 31.
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