Frédéric Beauchemin wants to use the Poilievre method to tackle the housing crisis

Photo: Francis Vachon Le Devoir Frédéric Beauchemin suggests “transforming unused government properties into housing.”

Thomas Laberge – The Canadian Press in Quebec City

Published at 9:48 a.m.

• Quebec City

Tightening the screws on municipalities to encourage them to build faster and convert government buildings into housing: Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) leadership candidate Frédéric Beauchemin is taking up proposals from federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre to combat the housing crisis in Quebec.

In a document of proposals entitled Solving the Housing Crisis in Quebec, the Liberal candidate suggests “converting unused government properties into housing.”

“As leader of the QLP and as premier, I will mobilize all surplus public assets to build affordable housing. “These lands, these buildings, they belong to Quebecers, and we are going to use them for Quebec families,” indicates Frédéric Beauchemin in the document of which The Canadian Press obtained a copy.

Citing the “slowness and bureaucratic complexity” faced by developers, the Liberal candidate wants municipalities to speed up permit authorizations for housing projects so that they can be built more quickly. The Liberal candidate even threatens to cut off funding to cities that do not comply.

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“If they block projects or if things do not go fast enough, we could go as far as imposing financial penalties, which could be to withhold part of the funding and government transfers to cities (annual, global, one-time). Everything is on the table, including performance bonuses for municipalities that are able to significantly reduce their authorization times,” he adds.

According to him, although some cities are moving in the right direction, some “don’t have the right priorities for citizens.”

“It's a challenge and we have to find a way to realign them with the priorities of citizens. […] What I want to do is remove the barriers that prevent the supply from being there,” he explains.

Poilievre-style proposals

Last year, Pierre Poilievre said he wanted to force “cities to build housing quickly.” He also suggested cutting funding to underperforming cities and rewarding good students “who remove bureaucratic barriers and build housing.”

He also proposed selling off unoccupied government buildings to convert them into affordable housing. Let us recall that Prime Minister François Legault has also already mentioned this option.

Frédéric Beauchemin assures that he is not making these proposals to appeal to conservative voters. “I asked myself instead: what does it take to make it work?” he says.

Pierre Poilievre is riding high in the polls. His message, however, seems to resonate less in Quebec, where he is in third place behind Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and the Bloc Québécois, according to polling aggregator 338Canada.

Less telework for civil servants

If he wins the leadership, Frédéric Beauchemin also wants to “establish an aid program with a maximum reduction of 2% in financing costs” for housing projects and plans to bring provincial civil servants back to the office at least three days a week to revitalize downtown areas.

Currently, Quebec government employees are required to work two days in person.

Mr. Beauchemin is lagging behind in the leadership race. Asked whether he would step aside and support another aspirant to the throne, the candidate assures that he is “in the running to win.”

“It’s a contest of ideas, not a popularity contest,” he says.

Let’s remember, however, that it is the Liberal members who will choose their next leader. The election will take place in the summer of 2025.