Press review of late April

In our last press review for April, we look at the recent Supreme Court ruling on the home cultivation of cannabis, welcomed by CORPIQ, and the first report on affordable housing tabled by the City of Montreal.

The Supreme Court upholds Quebec’s ban on growing cannabis at home

The lead of this Noovo Info article reads: “The Legault government has the right to ban the home cultivation of cannabis.” The article goes on to say that “[i]n a unanimous decision handed down Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec’s ban on possessing and cultivating cannabis plants for personal purposes is constitutional, even though the federal law allows people to possess and grow up to four plants at home.”

This decision, written by Chief Justice Richard Wagner, upholds that of the Quebec Court of Appeal from September 2021. He insisted that “the Quebec legislature saw the possession and personal cultivation of cannabis not as a social evil to be suppressed, but rather as a practice that should be prohibited in order to steer consumers to a controlled source of supply.”

Chief Justice Wagner continued: “The prohibitions set out in ss. 5 and 10 of the provincial Act do not have punitive purposes as such, but instead reflect an approach based on regulating and supervising access to the substance.” He also noted that “Parliament’s decision to decriminalize conduct leaves the field clear for the provinces to enact their own prohibitions accompanied by penalties in relation to that conduct.”

The article later states: “The Corporation des propriétaires immobiliers du Québec (CORPIQ), which has repeatedly expressed its opposition to allowing the cultivation of cannabis at home, is relieved by the Supreme Court’s decision,” adding that the ruling “will make it easier for the police to actually enforce Quebec’s law.”

CORPIQ also noted that growing cannabis requires high humidity, which damages homes. “It inevitably leads to mould and structural deterioration, resulting in high repair costs for rental landlords.”

La Presse also published an article on the subject, entitled “Les Québécois ne peuvent faire pousser du pot, dit la Cour suprême” (The Supreme Court says Quebecers cannot grow pot). The article reports the reaction shared on Twitter by Simon Jolin-Barrette, Minister of Justice: “The Cannabis Regulation Act is designed to protect the health and safety of Quebecers, especially our youth. We are pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision, which confirms Quebec’s full authority in this area.”

Again, CORPIQ welcomes the decision and believes that it will “greatly help preserve the rental housing stock.”

Montreal adopts a plan to speed up housing construction

This article in Journal Métro begins: “The City presented the first interim report of the committee for the “Montréal abordable” initiative, which aims to make Montreal’s housing supply more affordable.”

The article quotes Mayor Valérie Plante: “Everyone wants affordable housing, but coordination and a clear vision are lacking.” It then states that the report is the “result of consultations with the various players in the housing industry.”

Ten priorities were identified. These include “social and affordable housing programs, funding for organizations, initiatives for the construction of new housing (affordable or not), and regulatory relief for affordable housing projects.”

According to this April 12 article in Le Devoir, the “advisory committee, created last summer to help the City of Montreal reach its goal of 60,000 affordable housing units in the city, has issued its first report.”

Among the findings detailed in the 16-page report, which was drafted after some 30 committee meetings, is the following: “Access to affordable rental housing is proving difficult for a growing proportion of the population. At the same time, home ownership has become unattainable for many. In short, the housing crisis affects all Montrealers in one way or another.”

The report notes that “last year, the average rent for a two-bedroom unit in Montreal increased by 21% to an average of $1,355,” citing data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. “According to Statistics Canada, 142,000 renter households in the city spent more than 30% of their income on housing in 2021.”

According to the article, the report recommends that Montreal adopt “a tax system that facilitates the implementation of affordable housing projects” and use the upcoming revision of its Land Use and Mobility Plan to “set ambitious targets for housing starts and prescribe optimal development densities.”

Benoit Dorais, who is responsible for housing on the executive committee and serves on the advisory committee that produced the report, is quoted as saying: “At the moment, we think that this is all feasible. It’s not wishful thinking; our plan is achievable.”

The article notes that while the advisory committee’s report does not “provide a clear definition of what the City considers to be affordable housing,” it does “specify that such housing should be for residents with incomes somewhere between low and high. According to the report, that means an annual income of between $39,000 and $80,000 a year for a single person.”