Two Montreal swimming pools are at risk of closing due to a decision by a government agency which ends a tax exemption from which they had benefited for years.
Posted at 12:00 a.m.
“We do not have the necessary funds and fear the worst for the 2025 season and for the future of our community pools,” writes the board of directors of Piscine Lachine Ouest, in an internal notice that The Press got. “In the long term, we will not have the funds to assume their maintenance and survival. »
For years, the organization has benefited from an 85% exemption from its tax bill. In 2024, the group only paid $8,690 in municipal taxes thanks to this program.
However, this exemption must be renewed every nine years. And this year, the Quebec Municipal Commission (CMQ) refused the group’s request. Result: the tax bill now reaches $41,930 for the year 2024. And it should rise to $51,000 for the year 2025.
Managed by parent volunteers, the organization also regrets having to deal with a school tax bill of nearly $2,000, which had never been the case until now. In total, the small group must pay $95,000 to the City by June, which seems impossible to them.
The same fate befell the nearby Dixie Pool. “We find it really unfortunate,” says Loïc Bernard, one of the spokespersons for Piscine Lachine Ouest. These swimming pools have real community value. All the people from the neighborhood meet there. The children are there, having fun and making friends. It is a unifying element for the neighborhood. And it created jobs among young people. »
Few government responses
The CMQ refuses to explain its decision. Spokesperson Anne-Julie Lefebvre limits herself to responding that her group, “as an administrative tribunal, does not comment on its decisions.” The office of the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, also did not wish to comment on the situation.
According to our information, the decision was taken because swimming pools no longer meet certain criteria defining the character of a non-profit activity.
In a judgment rendered last May on the Lachine West Pool, the CMQ argued that the revenue generated by open swimming in 2023 was more than $58,000, compared to $11,000 for swimming lessons. This demonstrates, according to the judgment, that the character of the swimming pools is “recreational swimming”, and not social.
Loïc Bernard, for his part, explains the situation rather by the fact that swimming pools have changed certain ways of doing things, in particular by wanting to offer more free swimming. The CMQ’s decision, he deplores, is based on a strictly mathematical calculation of the hours allocated to it, without taking into account the community impact of the swimming pools.
Montreal concerned
At the City of Montreal, we deeply regret the situation. For the mayor of Lachine, Maja Vodanovic, the CMQ’s decision is “incomprehensible”. “There are 500 children learning to swim in these pools. And here it is essential. We are on the edge of a lake and a river, with 12 km of unfenced banks. It’s absolutely important that children learn to swim,” she explains.
PHOTO PASCAL RATTHÉ, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
The mayor of Lachine, Maja Vodanovic, in 2021
The elected official says she wants to “do everything” to change the mind of the CMQ, but she affirms that her power is limited. “The City cannot replace itself. If the government asks them to pay taxes, we cannot give them back. That would be illegal. Ultimately, it’s not us who decide,” says M.me Vodanovic.
She finds it all the more ironic that all this comes at a time when the City has just announced, in its budget, that next year it will offer financial relief of 10.5 million to 700 community, cultural and sports organizations, who will no longer have to pay the compensation that took the place of municipal taxes.
We announce that we want to reduce taxes for organizations in our territory, and on the other hand, the CMQ is asking others to pay more.
Maja Vodanovic, mayor of Lachine
For a spokesperson for the City of Montreal, Gonzalo Nunez, these swimming pools are “important infrastructure” for the population of the Lachine sector. “Located in areas with few swimming pools, they serve thousands of Montrealers every summer,” he notes.
Last month, The Press revealed that this fall, in certain cities in Quebec, there is only room for barely 1 in 10 children in swimming lessons. On the Plateau Mont-Royal, where 10,300 children aged 0 to 12 live, at least six organizations offer 3,600 places, just enough for 35% of young people.
With the collaboration of Gabrielle Duchaine, The Press
Read the file “Too few swimming lessons for children”
What is CMQ?
The Quebec Municipal Commission is an administrative tribunal reporting to the provincial government, which is responsible for public inquiries, but also for the arbitration of conflicts with the cities of Quebec. The body can also act in guardianship, ethics and professional conduct, as well as tax exemption. The CMQ has processed nearly 2,000 tax requests over the past five years. The organization has temporarily administered around ten municipalities in recent years, in addition to placing three under supervision.
