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Reported real estate flipping has opposition blasting Quebec housing minister

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One of Quebec’s opposition parties, Québec solidaire, has blasted the province’s housing minister after reports surfaced late last week that she was involved in real estate flipping with a business partner who now lobbies the provincial government.

“She herself is part of [what] is causing us to live in a housing crisis,” said Québec Solidaire (QS) MNA and co-spokesperson candidate Ruba Ghazal on Saturday.

“The phone in my riding never stops ringing with people getting evicted and having no place to live.”

The reports first surfaced on Thursday, when La Presse, Ricochet and its French counterpart Pivot revealed that the CAQ’s housing minister France-Élaine Duranceau’s recent business partner, Annie Lemieux, has an active lobby mandate with the housing ministry.

Lemieux is president of a company that owns hundreds of rental apartments, according to Ricochet and Pivot’s reporting, and she and Duranceau flipped an apartment building together and made close to $2.5 million.

This is the same ministry that just tabled Bill 31, a legislation that would end tenants’ right to make lease transfers, which is a means of informal rent control in a province where the population is increasingly struggling with the cost of housing, especially in Montreal.

The bombshell reports revealed that Minister Duranceau, who herself is a former realtor, and Lemieux have been business partners on several projects, including the 2019 purchase of a two-storey Montreal building on De Chateaubriand Avenue in Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie.

They allegedly bought the building for $517,000 and then renovated and converted it into five luxury condos dubbed “Le Briand.”

The units sold for between $400,000 and $800,000 each. La Presse reported that they made about $3 million in total on the sale of the condos. The project listed both women as administrators and Duranceau as a shareholder.

“What bothers me about this is realizing that our politicians are close to the elite. They’re not close to the issues Quebecers are dealing with,” said former QS MNA and another co-spokesperson candidate, Émilise Lessard-Therrien, on Friday after the controversial story surfaced.

Québec solidaire has consistently advocated for tenants’ rights and affordable housing in Quebec and has been vocal about being against renovictions and real estate flipping.

“Is [she] the minister of the real estate industry, or a minister with the common good at heart” wrote QS MNA Andrés Fontecilla in a Twitter statement. “Her past alleged real estate practices show us that the interests of tenants are not her primary concern.”

“[This news] is dripping with contempt for citizens who are doing what they can in the face of the housing crisis,” said another QS MNA Christine Labrie.

Legault stands by his minister

On Monday, Premier François Legault commented on the story and reiterated his support of Duranceau, saying, “Listen, people in real estate buy and sell, it’s part of what goes on in the industry. It’s [known] that France-Élaine Duranceau has a past in [that sector].”

He continued by saying that it’s a “a plus” that the housing minister knows the real estate sector, and that it’s her responsibility to develop affordable housing as fast as possible.

“If someone can successfully manage those projects and be innovative, it’s her,” Legault said to reporters on Monday. About the lobbying appointments between Duranceau and Lemieux, the premier said they were discussing the construction of a seniors’ residence.

“It had nothing to do with their dealings in the past.”

Bill 31

This comes after Duranceau apologized earlier last week for remarks she made during an interview on Quebec’s Noovoo television network where she defended Bill 31, saying tenants can’t “use a right that isn’t theirs, to assign a lease to someone else, on terms they decide on when it’s not their building. Any tenant who wants to do that has to invest in real estate and take the risks that go with it.”

After that quote was called tone deaf and offensive, the minister said she was “sorry if it seemed insensitive. It was a legal and economic description of things. On the contrary, I’m very sensitive to what’s happening in housing.”

If Bill 31 is adopted, landlords will have the right to refuse and terminate lease transfers. The current law requires that landlords must have a “serious reason” for doing so.

The bill has been described by housing advocates as a setback to tenant rights and a further step to reduce access to affordable housing.

Global News reached out to the housing minister’s office for comment by email and by phone but did not hear back.

— with files from The Canadian Press

 

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Homelessness: Tiny home village to open next week in Halifax suburb

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HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.

Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.

Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.

The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.

Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.

They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.

The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Here are some facts about British Columbia’s housing market

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Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.

Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.

Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500

Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438

Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103

Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359

Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent

How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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B.C. voters face atmospheric river with heavy rain, high winds on election day

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VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.

Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.

The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.

Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.

More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.

Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.

An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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