“There are things we don’t know,” says the mayor of Gatineau

Questioned on this subject in an interview last Thursday, the mayor of Gatineau, Maude Marquis-Bissonnette, was evasive. “I am not able to give a clear answer to this question because the analyzes are continuing,” she said, as she has essentially been repeating since mid-September in this matter.

The little information available on the transaction and the identity of the future buyer of the real estate portfolio would complicate the task of officials. “Our teams are evaluating all the tools, but in a context where information is limited,” added the mayor of Gatineau. We are in contact with Fiducie Desjardins. There are a lot of legal, privacy and financial issues. There are things we know and things we don’t know. The question we ask ourselves is what is our capacity to act. We know that time is limited, but so is the information available.”

Several stakeholders, notably the Cargo Foundation, are urging the City of Gatineau to impose its right of pre-emption to remove the 1,000 housing units and eight shopping centers of Immeubles Tassé from the private market and then transfer them to a non-profit organization which would ensure their maintenance. affordability.

The right of pre-emption allows a municipality to have a first buyer’s option on a property when it is put up for sale. The City must, however, acquire it at market price. In the case of Immeubles Tassé, the transaction currently in progress would exceed $100 million.

“The City can use the right of pre-emption in the circumstances it wants and on the buildings it wants, but what we must see is whether it is an interesting tool in the context of this transaction and to find out, financial analyzes must continue, explained Ms. Marquis-Bissonnette. The answer we don’t have is whether the right of pre-emption can really help us achieve our objective in this matter, namely preserving the affordability of this real estate stock. If our analyzes show that this does not allow it, it is of no interest. We need to see if it’s the right tool to achieve our goal.”

Letter to the Trust

Ms. Marquis-Bissonnette recalls that she supported the project presented to the Fiducie Desjardins by the Cargo Foundation upon her arrival at town hall, as former mayor France Bélisle had done in the previous months. “Cargo is a social economy enterprise that has access to public funding and funding from private foundations,” noted the mayor. This allows it to be able to take these units out of the private market. It is the perfect vehicle to preserve the affordability of this real estate stock.”

Caisses Desjardins are involved in the financial arrangement of the Cargo Foundation, noted the general director of the Fédération intercoopérative en habitation de l’Ouest du Québec (FIHAB) and member of the Cargo Foundation, Raphaël Déry. The latter also sent a letter to the president and CEO of Desjardins Group, Guy Cormier, to remind him of this. He criticizes the Trust’s decision to prefer a private project to the detriment of that of the Cargo Foundation.

“We are of the opinion that the decision of the Fiducie Desjardins is contrary to the public interest and that it poses a serious and serious risk to the housing ecosystem in Outaouais, which is in serious crisis,” writes M . Déry in this letter of which we obtained a copy, dated September 25.

The Cargo Foundation project made it possible to mobilize numerous players in the philanthropic and housing sectors in Outaouais, continues Mr. Déry in his letter. “The City of Gatineau is even seriously considering the use of regulatory levers to assert its desire to protect this real estate stock from any buyer who would aim to take advantage of this stock for speculative purposes,” he added. We therefore ask you to intervene with the Desjardins Trust so that the Cargo Foundation project is retained. It would be insane for a Desjardins Movement body to cancel out the efforts of these other bodies.”