Mayor furious over Quebec school land plan

The mayor of Gatineau and chair of the big cities caucus of the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ), Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, is taking offense at the new Bill 40, which was passed under gag order by the Legault government on February 8. 

The bill, which provides, among other things, for the abolition of school boards and their replacement by school service centres, stipulates the following in section 272.2: “A school service centre may (...) require a local municipality to transfer to it, free of charge, an immovable property for the construction or expansion of a school or centre. 

Quebec has already said no to financial compensation for cities that will thus be forced to cede land for schools free of charge. In urban areas like Gatineau, where growth is strong and prices are high, this is a major problem. For the mayor, this is a mistake that will exacerbate an already complex situation in a number of ways. First, unused land is scarce – and very expensive! The City will therefore be forced to buy private land, at high prices and sometimes by expropriation, and give it to the Department of Education. This makes no sense in the eyes of the mayor: “We can’t understand why the Quebec government would pay for land for hospitals, CPEs, universities, CEGEPs, and that it would pass the bill on to us when it comes to schools.

$10 million bill for Gatineau taxpayers

If Mr Pedneaud-Jobin does not wish to shift the tax burden to Gatineau taxpayers, “that is what we will have to do if we are forced to buy land. The money has to come from somewhere.” If that is the case, the bill will be exorbitant. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars across Quebec. For the City of Gatineau, it is $10 million at the very least. So, if the government maintains its position, it is clear that the taxpayers’ tax bill will be directly affected. The mayor of Gatineau, like many of his counterparts in the rest of the province, believes that the law will force cities to increase municipal property taxes to make up for the losses caused by the free transfer of land to the new school service centres. 

The principle defended by all Quebec mayors is that cities (read taxpayers) do not have to fund the Ministry of Education. For them, this is a straightforward transfer of taxation from Quebec City to the municipalities. “The resources in the cities are already insufficient to maintain all the infrastructure for which we are responsible. Under what principle should we be forced to subsidize the Ministry of Education?” the mayor exclaimed. 

The Liberal MP and official opposition critic for health and social services, André Fortin, agrees: “The government has adopted without consultation or discussion a measure that would force municipalities to offer land free of charge if no agreement is reached after a certain period of time. In this sense, everyone in Aylmer certainly understands the importance of acting quickly to build schools. However, the measure presented suggests that the government will have no incentive to reach an agreement quickly because, if there is an impasse in the negotiations, it will be able to obtain land free of charge. Moreover, this land represents significant costs for municipalities. The fact that the government is appropriating this right, and therefore this land, by introducing an amendment at the last minute, without consulting the municipal partners and at a time when other negotiated solutions could have solved the problem, clearly shows how little consideration the CAQ government has for municipal taxpayers. For all these reasons, we voted against the bill.”

Two councillors vote against the mayor’s resolution

At the municipal council meeting on February 18, the majority of councillors supported a resolution by the mayor of Gatineau against the clause in Bill 40. However, Councillors Marc Carrière and Jocelyn Blondin registered their dissent. They disagreed with some of the arguments in the resolution, namely that the City is short of land and that education is the sole responsibility of Québec City. However, Mayor Pedneaud-Jobin does not see the opposition of two elected officials to his resolution as a failure. “It’s a pretty strong message from council that the government’s decision makes no sense,” he said. “I see it as a strong, clear and unambiguous message.” (Trans.)