The first symptoms of the housing crisis appeared well before the explosion of temporary immigration in Quebec, said co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois on Tuesday.
• Read also: An “emergency situation”: temporary immigrants 100% responsible for the housing crisis, according to Legault
This outing came the day after a meeting between Prime Minister François Legault and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau, during which $750 million was released to offset the costs covered by Quebec in welcoming asylum seekers. .
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois jumped when he heard François Legault say, after this meeting, that temporary immigrants were “100%” responsible for the housing crisis.
“The explosion in rent prices, the ferocious speculation of certain real estate investors, the scourge of evictions, the fact that there is too much housing in poor condition, that people are often crowded into unsanitary housing, everything It started well before the very recent increase in temporary immigration,” he said in an interview with LCN.
He accused the Prime Minister of spreading disinformation to Quebecers.
“What he does is designate scapegoats, while the housing crisis was caused by decades of inaction on the part of governments in Quebec and Ottawa,” illustrated Mr. Nadeau-Dubois. The latter also added that this type of assertion is dangerous for the cohesion of Quebec society.
“It has always been recognized that since 2022, the significant increase in temporary immigration has added pressure to the housing crisis. It is a fact. But the housing crisis is caused by several factors. Speculation, the explosion of Airbnb in all regions of Quebec, these are factors which have also fueled the housing crisis. What Mr. Legault did yesterday is downright irresponsible,” he argued.
Watch the full interview in the video above
