City of Montreal

Montreal appoints director of its Bureau de la langue française

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By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

The City of Montreal has appointed a director of its newly-created Bureau de la langue française. The bureau was created last February on a recommendation by the city’s French Language Committee, under the leadership of Louise Harel, former interim PQ leader.

The new director Aurélie Arnaud has held key positions within the City of Montreal since 2016, including Indigenous reconciliation, ecological transition, transportation, and of course the promotion of the French language. She has been involved in the linguistic file since 2017, drafting the very first Action Plan for the Promotion of the French Language, successfully obtaining francization certificates in all boroughs.

Arnaud’s appointment “marks an important step in fulfilling our commitment to making French a living, inclusive language that is fully anchored in Montreal life,” says Caroline Bourgeois, Executive Committee member responsible for the French language. “As a Francophone metropolis of the Americas, we have a responsibility to be exemplary and promote our language in all spheres of municipal life. This Office will play a central role in supporting our services and strengthening our collective action in favor of the French language.”

Arnaud’s role will be to support municipal services in the implementation of actions aimed at promoting, enhancing, and protecting the French language throughout Montreal.

The Bureau’s mission, according to the City, “is to strengthen the use of French in the City’s services and activities, in line with the recommendations of the French Language Committee, in addition to accelerating the City’s transition to exemplary behavior and the implementation of the new provisions of the Charter since the adoption of the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French. It also manages funding agreements with the Ministry of the French Language, particularly through the Program for the Promotion and Valorization of the French Language.

Arnaud will oversee the implementation of the City’s next Action Plan for the Promotion of the French Language, mobilize municipal departments around common objectives, monitor commitments made, and lead concrete initiatives to support the presence and vitality of French in communications, services, and administrative practices. She will also play a key role in establishing strategic partnerships, ensuring accountability, and promoting the City’s actions to the public and partner institutions.

Her appointment, the press release reads, is part of the city’s desire to make French a lever for social cohesion, inclusion, and collective pride, while affirming its role as a French-speaking metropolis of the Americas.

The creation of the bureau has its critics, those who question its need, given that the provincial language laws already apply to the city. As Andrew Cadell of the Task Force on Linguistic Policy told The Suburban in February, it will come down to how the new Bureau applies that law. The hope, he said, is that the office will offer the non-Francophone community some flexibility. n

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Montreal punishes St. Laurent, LaSalle for early snow clearing

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Last Tuesday Feb. 18, 48 hours after the two mega snowstorms that left some 70 cm of snow on the ground , the streets in the City of Montreal were a hellscape of barriers created by snowbanks left on major and side streets during the initial snow removal process.

The corners of westbound Van Horne and northbound Décarie and Victoria were down to one lane because of a massive snowbank. Drivers stuck in traffic on northbound Décarie headed to Paré were forced onto side streets that were packed with cars as snowbanks caused the two-way streets to be narrower. Cars headed in either direction came close to scraping each other.

Such was the state of streets under the responsibility of the City of Montreal.

And yet, two boroughs, St. Laurent and LaSalle, which took the initiative to clear snow ahead of a City of Montreal-dictated schedule after a 20 cm snowfall earlier this month, are being told they used up their one instance of misbehaviour, and that the next time this happens, they will have to pay for the snow removal themselves — not the centre city.

LaSalle borough mayor Nancy Blanchet told the Feb. 17 Montreal city council meeting that her borough, St. Léonard, St. Laurent and Anjou asked Montreal for permission to at least partially clear the snow ahead of Montreal’s designated date. When this was denied, LaSalle and St. Laurent went ahead anyway, the latter doing so from Feb. 4 to 7, Mayor Alan DeSousa told the media.

DeSousa further said last week that, in relation to the latest snowstorm and overall city policy, “although this is exceptional precipitation, snow loading operations are further hampered by the reform of the snow removal policy imposed by Projet Montréal last spring. The result —Montrealers must wait even longer before the snow is removed from the public domain.”

Blanchet told the Feb. 17 council meeting that her borough went ahead with its early February snow clearing for security reasons.

The Plante administration has responded that the Services de concertation des arrondissements (SCA) committee decides when snow clearing in boroughs take place, and to what extent — partial or complete.

LaSalle city councillor Richard Deschamps told the Montreal meeting that borough councils should make snow clearing decisions, not centre city officials.

Plante told Deschamps that the centre city’s decision process for snow clearing enables a better sharing of resources, but that she would consider a change if deemed necessary. n

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Pierrefonds developers sue Montreal for $178 million

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By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

A $178-million lawsuit against the City of Montreal has been revived, revealing a stark pattern of costly delays and shifting requirements that developers say has drained $500,000 in consulting fees while yielding nothing but rejections.

Three developers — Développements Pierrefonds Inc., Les Immeubles l’équerre Inc., and Quartier de l’ouest de l’île — suspended their original lawsuit in 2019, hoping to negotiate in good faith with the city. What followed, according to court documents, was a four-year process that saw them submit 14 different proposals, each responding to previous city objections, only to face new requirements.

“My clients are reluctant litigators,” said Ali Argun, the developers’ lawyer. “My clients want to work hand-in-hand with all government bodies and authorities, city and borough included. My clients are making every effort to satisfy every request made of them, and those requests, it appears, are never-ending.”

The latest rejection cited an unexplained fire department policy, which developers claim the city refused to elaborate on when questioned. This follows a documented pattern of permit rejections based on what courts have found to be “irrelevant considerations” in other Montreal development cases.

The dispute centers around what was originally planned as a 5,500-unit housing development, now scaled back to 3,800 units. The latest proposal includes significant social housing components and rental units in buildings ranging from three to ten stories, with commercial spaces and direct connections to the REM transit system.

The conflict’s roots extend back to 2015, when former mayor Denis Coderre had conditionally approved the project, requiring that approximately half the land be preserved for conservation. The situation changed dramatically after Mayor Plante took office, particularly when her administration cancelled plans for an urban boulevard that would have served the development.

The lawsuit alleges “disguised expropriation” and challenges controversial claims made on social media by former interim Projet Montréal leader Luc Ferrandez, who they say unfairly linked them to organized crime. The developers are also seeking reimbursement for years of property taxes paid on land they now claim they cannot develop.

In court Friday, city lawyer Alexandre Paul-Hus stated that the municipality sees no point in further discussions, despite having encouraged continued proposal submissions over the past four years. The city’s 2020 court filing argued that development remains possible under existing bylaws, which permit two-story housing, though developers contend this makes the project economically unfeasible.

The disputed land falls within the proposed Grand Parc de l’Ouest, which would create Canada’s largest municipal park. Environmental groups have long advocated for preserving the area, citing its crucial role in maintaining biodiversity on the island.

A Superior Court judge has given both parties 20 days to establish a timeline for moving the case forward. The developers’ legal team indicated the damage claim would likely increase substantially, citing rising property values and mounting professional fees since 2019.

Mayor Plante’s office did not respond to requests for comment on this latest development in the long-running dispute.

The case highlights a broader crisis in Montreal’s development landscape. With current permit processing times averaging 580 days in Montreal — nearly two years — the city’s development paralysis stands in stark contrast to other Quebec municipalities. While developers in Montreal wait through multiple seasons for basic approvals, cities like Saguenay process similar permits in just 14 days, and Drummondville has maintained similarly efficient timelines. The city recently announced plans to impose a 120-day deadline for boroughs to issue building permits — a target that, while representing a significant improvement, would still take more than eight times longer than some of Quebec’s better-performing regions. n

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City rolls out ‘responsible landlord’ policy

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By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The City of Montreal has unveiled its Responsible Landlord project to improve living conditions of tenants and reduce unsanitary conditions of the city’s rental stock.

The central element is to intensify preventive and targeted inspections, meaning a specific number of multi-tenant buildings will be proactively inspected each year to detect health issues. A pilot phase this spring targets nearly 90 buildings of 100 housing units, approximately 15,000 homes. Once completed, buildings with six or more dwellings will be inspected. Prioritized buildings will be those which have not been built or renovated recently and located in socio-economically vulnerable sectors or that have numerous complaints.

To encourage as many tenants as possible to file complaints, the city says it will also improve communications with the population by distributing leaflets and resource cards during inspections, which will be carried out in the presence of community liaison officers (ALIS).

The boroughs mainly have the responsibility for health and sanitation inspections, says Loyola councillor Despina Sourias, associate executive committee member for housing, and “the city usually supports them in their efforts with the most difficult situations. Now, for the first time, the city of Montreal and its boroughs will reinforce their efforts in order to inspect 10,000 rental housing units this year.”

CDN-NDG has many older buildings with many cases of neglect, added Sourias, who says under the Projet Montréal administration, the borough has been proactive in working with local housing organizations supporting tenants. “This has helped in better understanding the reality on the ground and informing tenants about their rights.”

To inform tenants and make landlords more accountable, inspection results will be publicly available on the city’s website with ratings for elements inspected. The city will also harmonize inspection practices and strengthen the use of coercive tools to encourage owners to carry out required work and reduce delays in resolving non-conformities.

To improve transparency regarding rent prices and protect tenants from excessive increases, the city is also giving $30,000 to Vivre en Ville to help improve its Rent Registry, which already lists the rents of some 20,000 housing units in Montreal thanks to voluntary registration by residents. The financial contribution will make it possible to add some 2,500 registrations to the Registry and a “City of Montreal” section will be added to the analysis report. An awareness campaign will be produced and communicated to Montrealers to quickly increase tenants’ buy-in.

That shift from creating a city registry to subsidizing an existing NGO project is “an abandonment” of an election promise,” says Ensemble Montréal housing critic Julien Hénault-Ratelle. “When we see the amounts given, $30,000, it is really peanuts compared to what is necessary. The numbers speak for themselves: we are talking about average rent increases of 8% last year, 10% this year; it takes strong actions, concrete actions and unfortunately that’s not what we see from the administration.”

Inspection numbers don’t add up either, says Hénault-Ratelle, insisting the administration “abandoned” tenants by dropping a pledge to implement landlord certification. Under the previous plan, the obligation was on owners to do inspections by private firms “and what we see today is to increase, with no additional inspectors, the number of preventive inspections… This is a flagrant retreat.” He says notwithstanding the city’s claim otherwise, the current crop of inspectors would need 60 years “just to come and inspect building exteriors of six or more units.” He says another 50 new hires are needed to conduct 19,000 inspections within five years. “We’re putting the majority of the responsibility on the boroughs,” he says, noting that with city transfers of 2%, “boroughs are being squeezed.”

For information about the plan (in French) visit https://montreal.ca/articles/proprietaire-responsable-pour-des-multilogements-bien-entretenus-28583. View the Registry at https://rentalregistry.ca/en/on/about-registry n

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