Gatineau Council wrap-up

Parking tax discussion draws full house at Council meeting

J-D Potié

The Salle Jean-Desprez was packed, as scores of people gathered to express themselves on issues of local importance during the monthly municipal council meeting, March 18.

Featuring 49 interventions, most of them property owners and entrepreneurs lambasting the city’s newly imposed parking lot tax for non-commercial properties despite its proposed resolution to reduce it by 40 percent, the four-plus-hour meeting saw a great torrent of backlash and heated emotion from a boisterous crowd of frustrated citizens.

Among those who intervened, many were business owners claiming to have seen their municipal taxes suddenly spike by upwards of 30 to 50 percent.

Last November, the city approved a regulation to tax parking lots of non-residential properties in the interest of generating supplemental revenue, aiming to amass $27 million in tax dollars in 2025. The 40 percent reduction reduces the total to $17 million, thus the city will seek alternative solutions to generate the rest of the funds.

Widespread outrage at the initial regulation forced municipal council to drawback on its decision, recently announcing a 40 percent reduction of the initial tax to alleviate the financial burden on local businesses. However, many business owners were not satisfied with the reduction, claiming that the city should eliminate the tax altogether.

In the end council voted 13 to 6 in favour of reducing the tax by 40 percent.

Lucerne district councillor Gilles Chagnon voted against the resolution stating that it doesn’t correspond with the needs of local merchants.

Claiming that a 40 percent reduction of the tax is unacceptable, Aylmer Galleries Director Guy Leblanc noted that his tax bills for Super C, the Aylmer Galleries, and Place Lavigne augmented by 19.3 percent, 29.5 percent, and 85.3 percent respectively.

Noting that the regulation is intended to apply to large businesses, Leblanc explained that there are no major companies in the Aylmer Galleries, only small enterprises who are being significantly hurt by this tax.

“The small players, the mom and pops and we call them, those are locals who are penalized,” Leblanc said.

APICA President Patrick Chénier said the economic impacts of this decision are already apparent for the association, as numerous of its local partners have concluded that they won’t be able to participate in various community events this year.

Funtopia co-owner Tania St-Louis said the tax has a considerable impact on the company since it invariably forces an increase in prices to make up for its losses.

“With the cost of living going up, we are worried about how this tax will affect not only our company but also our clients,” St-Louis said.

Gatineau Chamber of Commerce Director General Etienne Fredette accused the tax of being imposed without public consultation nor dialogue with business owners.

“Our business community was shaken by the way things took place,” he said, stating that the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce was never consulted on the decision to reduce the tax by 40 percent. “A moratorium is essential for the sake of economic vitality.”

Every intervention against the tax was received with applause.

Thanking residents for coming out in such large numbers to express their thoughts on an issue of great public interest, Mitigomijokan district councillor and President of the Comité des Finances Anik Des Marais assured that the city did not take its decision to impose the tax lightly.

She reminded residents that the parking lot tax was initially brought to council in 2018 as means of diversifying its revenue with a plan to implement it in law in 2021. But the regulation’s implementation was postponed due to the pandemic. She continued stating that the city’s long-term financial plan (2023-2032) recommended the imposition of a parking lot tax, which was finally proposed in the city’s 2024 budget.

“It’s never been secret,” Des Marais said, noting that consultations were held with businesspeople, the Commission du développement économique, and local mobility and environmental organizations. “It’s been published, and we’ve talked about it numerous times.” The Bulletin reported on this when the budget was discussed.

“We made this decision wittingly,” she added, noting that the city will set up an advisory committee to communicate with citizens and modulate the tax.

Last December, the city mandated the Comité des finances to examine the possibility of modulating the tax according to ecological performance, propose changes to zoning regulations to ensure the possibilities of re-development, analyze different proposals and monitoring its installation, and present a review to the Municipal council in July, Des Marais said.

Emphasizing the city’s intention in fostering an open space for dialogue with local entrepreneurs, Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette said citizens frustrations are justified.

However, she asserted that the parking lot tax implementation is a necessary step in the right direction.

Explaining that all large cities in the province, such as Laval, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke, have implemented parking lot tax regulations in recent years, she noted that Montreal’s rates are about 10 times as high as Gatineau’s.

“We don’t have a choice,” Marquis-Bissonnette said, noting that the city will have to generate $10 million somehow. “Obviously it means that someone else will have to pay … for now, we’ll put it on the tax. But the debt service will make it that all Gatineau citizens will have to pay their share.”

Pointing to the implementation of the advisory committee, she added that the city will continue consulting the business community to come up with solutions to better support the interests of local businesses going forward.

Aylmer district councillor Steven Boivin, acting as Council President abstained from voting. Boivin told the Aylmer Bulletin that the topic is very significant and that he wanted to remain as neutral as possible.

“This is a topic that we’re perhaps not done talking about,” Boivin said. “There are maybe more people who are going talk about it. So, I want to ensure to remain as neutral as possible throughout this process.”

Noting that he was not surprised with the business community’s revolting response to the tax, Boivin said it’s instrumental for the citizens and elected to officials to have such open dialogues on important issues.

“That’s what democracy is,” Boivin said, noting that the regulation is axed on the intention to make better use of parking lots and incentivize people to be less car dependent. “I think we should never stop consulting,” he added. “There’s never a right time to tax people … and that’s what we’re doing. We’re going to continue to listen to people.”

One resident spoke up in favour of the parking lot tax. Laura Darche said council should be celebrated for making such a brave decision in the face of widespread discontent.

While noting that the city could come up with solutions to make it less challenging on businesses, Darche said the decision is a step in the right direction toward making Gatineau residents less dependent on vehicles and the city less polluted.

Pétanques pitches?

There was also a group of around 40 members of the Gatineau Pétanque Association in attendance, with its President Romain Vanhooren soliciting the city for support in providing more facilities to accommodate and facilitate access to the increasingly popular sport.

Stating that Gatineau boasts more than 500 pétanque players, Vanhooren said participation to the sport drops significantly in the winter due to a lack of local pétanque pitches.

Suggesting the first floor of the Fonderie sports complex in Hull or vacant arenas as potential viable options, Vanhooren said he would like to work alongside the city to come with an optimal solution to serve residents, notably seniors and disabled, with adequate sports and leisure infrastructure.

Plateau district councillor Bettyna Bélizaire said she has undergone numerous discussions regarding the need for more pétanque playing installations and that the city is on the right track to delivering on that front.

“Once we have all the information in hand, I think we’ll be able to make a clear decision,” Bélizaire said.

Marquis-Bissonnette said that the Gatineau pétanque playing community can rest assured that the city is evaluating its needs and working on potential solutions. However, she highlighted that the level of need is tremendous in all sports across the city.

“There are needs in soccer, there are needs in baseball,” Marquis-Bissonnette said. “There are seniors asking us for communal infrastructure, to play sports, to stay healthy. We need indoor pools, we need parks. The needs are huge, and we’re trying to be there.”

The mayor recommended that the association solicit alternative streams of financing as well as municipal support to acquire adequate pétanque installations.

“The pressure on municipal funds is huge,” Marquis-Bissonnette said.

Dog kennel

One resident, Serge Labelle, submitted a petition with more than 1,700 signatures calling to shut down a dog kennel that has operated in the city illegally for the last eight years. Emphasizing that the kennel operates with no permit and has been attributed to many cases of injured dogs and kennel cough, Labelle said it is known to admit up to 125 dogs at a time, including aggressive dogs.

“It’s a kennel where bites are never reported,” Labelle said, referring to attacks on dogs and employees. “Neither to the SPCA nor animal control services.”

Calling out the kennel’s owner, Yannick Duchesne, Labelle asserted that he mixes aggressive dogs with normally behaved ones and that the kennel is severely understaffed.

“This is someone’s who’s actually recommended by the city,” Labelle said. “To solve problems in canine behaviour.”

“Two employees for 50-70-80 dogs,” Labelle added, noting that provincial guidelines advise a maximum of seven to eight dogs per staffer.

He added that the kennel is unsafe, unclean and unsanitary, being the regular site of rat infestations.

“Cages are all rusty,” Labelle said. “Fences are broken … and there are electric wires hanging everywhere, which is a fire hazard. Plus, there’s never someone on site to watch the dogs at night.”

Recalling that municipal and provincial inspectors have inspected the kennel and has received complaints about the kennel since 2023, Labelle said he was puzzled as to why it remains operational.

Watering regulation

The city also adopted modifications to its watering regulation with the purpose of more efficiently regulate water usage. The modification involves changes in scheduling, notably limiting the operation of automatic watering systems to one night per week. Chagnon dissented the resolution.