Latest news with #Rabouin
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ensemble Montréal mayoral candidate pledges $1M for community housing initiatives
Mayoral hopeful Soraya Martinez Ferrada, the leader of Ensemble Montréal, said that if elected she would allot $1 million to "empower community organizations and expand successful housing initiatives" to prevent families from ending up on the streets. Community organization programs she aims to reinforce include La Maison du Père's rent assistance bank, which provides interest-free loans covering up to three months of unpaid rent. Those loans must be repaid within five years. "I want July 1 to no longer be a tragedy where families end up in hotels for months or on the street. These are preventable situations," Martinez Ferrada said in a news release published on Wednesday. The former federal tourism minister and self-proclaimed "mayor of housing" found herself in hot water after the Journal de Montréal reported on her collecting a security deposit from a tenant who is renting out her family home — a violation of Quebec law. She previously announced her intentions to abolish the city's "Bylaw for a Diverse Metropolis," which aimed to have developers include social housing in new projects but failed to produce any such unit within two years of its implementation. Martinez Ferrada said at a news conference on Wednesday that she is committed to creating a housing bank to reserve affordable housing units on the market and transfer the leases to "nearly 100 households without housing on July 1" — an initiative presented in Ensemble Montréal's 2021 campaign. She said her party would create a reliable municipal rental registry to protect renters' rights, noting that the current registry is spearheaded by Vivre en Ville and is not mandatory. A report by Statistics Canada released last week shows the average asking price of rent in Montreal has shot up nearly 71 per cent since 2019. Projet Montréal commits to new guarantee fund Martinez Ferrada's announcement follows that of Projet Montréal mayoral candidate Luc Rabouin. Monday, Rabouin said his party would implement a $100 million guarantee fund to help non-profit organizations secure funding for affordable housing. "We will guarantee from 10 to 15 per cent of the amount of the banking loan to be sure they get all the money they need," Rabouin said. He noted that his party would mandate the city's municipal housing office to contact all tenants for whom Quebec's rental tribunal (TAL) issues an eviction notice to assist them in finding another residence. Rabouin said he intends to do more to reduce the wait time for issuing construction permits. As of January, the city implemented a 120-day service standard for residential projects in all boroughs.

Montreal Gazette
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Luc Rabouin promises to focus on buses, not bikes, if elected mayor of Montreal
Montreal Politics Buses, not bikes, will be central in Projet Montréal's 2025 pitch to voters, mayoral contender Luc Rabouin announced Wednesday. The candidate, who now helms outgoing Mayor Valérie Plante's party, promised an expanded express bus network that would bring new bus lanes to Montreal streets. While he said he is 'proud' of the cycling expansion spearheaded by Plante during her two terms, Rabouin said he now intends to put 'as much love and energy and passion into the bus network as we did for bikes.' The promise came as part of his first policy pitch as candidate for mayor, coming months ahead of the November municipal election. That vote, scheduled for Nov. 2, will pit Rabouin against Ensemble Montréal's Soraya Martinez Ferrada. Both candidates have yet to hammer out comprehensive platforms, but Martinez Ferrada has criticized many of Plante's policies on cycling and pedestrianization. She promises a review of Montreal's bike lanes and opposes the now-walked-back plan to permanently pedestrianize Ste-Catherine St. 'I want to put the priority on the bus network because we have a lot of people every day ... who are moving by bus,' Rabouin said. 'They need to have their own bus lane reserved for them.' The city has the resources to build more bus lanes, Rabouin said. 'I want to do the most we can do ourselves without depending on other levels of government.' While he said he would also like to increase bus service, Rabouin said that would require the support of other levels of government. 'I will continue to fight for that for Montrealers,' he said. Rabouin also pledged to cut delays for residential construction permits in half. 'We want to simplify life for developers' who, he said, 'feel that they're fighting a long, hard battle if they want to develop a project in Montreal.' 'It's not normal,' Rabouin said. In 2024, Plante imposed a 120-day deadline for boroughs to issue building permits, a window Rabouin said he would halve. 'We're going to go much further in our next mandate,' he said. 'The population's first priority is the housing crisis. It's ours, too.' As with the bus network, Rabouin said he is focused on finding solutions within the city's tool kit. Other hurdles in the housing crisis, including interest rates and rising costs, are out of municipal control, he said. Rabouin said he is starting the campaign early to have more time to define himself to voters. 'Montreal's population knows little about me,' he said, calling himself 'attentive, experienced and focused on concrete solutions to respond to Montrealers' needs.' This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM.

Montreal Gazette
26-05-2025
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Montreal ‘proud of our pedestrian streets,' Luc Rabouin says
Montreal's summer pedestrian streets are back for 2025, with some already open for the season. This year's slate is almost identical to the 2024 project, with no new additions, though Plaza St-Hubert will remain open to cars after its pedestrianization plan was scrapped in February. Last September, the city committed to fund summer pedestrian streets for three more years, cementing a framework that keeps cars off some commercial streets with the support of local commercial development corporations (CDCs). While the city dropped the Plaza St-Hubert plan after 60 per cent of local business owners voted against it, Plateau-Mont-Royal borough mayor Luc Rabouin maintained that the remaining streets still enjoy widespread support. 'No commercial street tried pedestrianization and didn't decide to redo it, except for one,' said Rabouin, who also sits on the city's executive committee. He called Plaza St-Hubert 'the exception that proves the rule.' Four years after the project began, 'we are now proud of our pedestrian streets,' Rabouin said. 'We're no longer asking ourselves whether it works or not. It works.' Nine streets are slated for pedestrianization this summer: Mont-Royal Ave. between St-Laurent Blvd. and St-Denis St. from May 26 until Oct. 16 and between St-Denis St. and De Lorimier Ave. from May 26 until Sept. 4. Duluth Ave. E. between St-Laurent Blvd. and St-Hubert St. from June 16 to Oct. 16. Wellington St. between 6th Ave. and Regina St. from June 2 to Sept. 19. Ste-Catherine St. E. between St-Hubert St. and Papineau Ave. and a short stretch of St-Christophe St. between Ste-Catherine St. E. and 1278 St-Christophe St. from May 15 to Oct. 14. St-Denis St. between Sherbrooke and Ste-Catherine Sts. from June 14 to Sept. 15. Émery St. between Sanguinet and St-Denis Sts. from June 14 to Sept. 15. Ontario St. E. between Pie-IX Blvd. and Darling St. from June 16 to Sept. 12. Bernard Ave. W. between Wiseman St. and Bloomfield St. from May 24 to Sept. 21. De Castelnau St. E. between St-Denis St. and de Gaspé Ave. from May 12 to Nov. 7. 'A pedestrian street is a lot more attractive than a street with constant intense traffic,' Rabouin said at a Villeray press conference held on the recently pedestrianized de Castelnau St. E. That street will see its temporary pedestrianization last the longest, running into November. 'You'll be able to celebrate Halloween with us,' said Villeray—Saint-Michel—Parc-Extension borough mayor Laurence Lavigne. Villeray CDC general director Louis Vaillancourt was optimistic, telling The Gazette the 2024 rendition of the project had boosted business for the merchants he represents. 'This is a lot of fun for the citizens, but my mission is to make money for my people,' he said. Claire, who manages the de Castelnau St. Épicerie Loco, a boutique grocery store, was also happy pedestrianization would return. She declined to provide her last name. The store takes advantage of the pedestrian street to offer tastings to passersby, she said. 'There are a lot of events in the street, so people are passing by, they see that the door is open, they do the tastings, it attracts a lot of people,' she said. 'We're very happy with that.' Restaurant owner Rabih Rouhana, who runs Comptoir Sainte-Cécile, said he is expecting to see an increase in customers. Restaurants tend to benefit the most from pedestrian projects, said Sébastien Ridoin, the general director of Montreal's CDC association. 'Obviously terrasses on the streets help them,' he said. But the projects only work when businesses are onside, Rabouin said, adding he was under no illusion that summer pedestrian streets work in every instance. 'It's not a recipe that we should apply to every commercial street. It's a recipe that works in certain cases.' In the short term, permanent pedestrianization remains out of reach, he said. 'We are always ready to discuss the most ambitious thing we can do,' Rabouin said, but most business owners want the pedestrianization to remain temporary. This story was originally published May 26, 2025 at 5:02 PM.


CBC
16-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Luc Rabouin to lead Projet Montréal into 2025 municipal elections
Projet Montréal members have elected Luc Rabouin to become their next leader. On Saturday evening, he won 59.2 per cent of the vote in the fourth round, while the borough mayor for Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, came in second with 40.8 per cent. Also in the running were city councillor Ericka Alneus, former Projet Montréal president Guedwig Bernier and borough mayor Laurence Lavigne Lalonde. At one point, the borough mayor for Lachine, Maja Vodanovic, was also in the race but decided in January to drop out of the race and endorsed Rabouin instead. Rabouin, mayor of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough and chair of the city's executive committee, said that, as Montreal's mayor, he would focus on the environment and housing — two areas Valérie Plante prioritized during her tenure as the city's mayor. On Saturday evening, in front of over 300 people at Entrepôts Dominion in the Saint-Henri neighbourhood, delivered a speech that, in addition to housing and climate change, focused on the economy. He also called for a greater autonomy of the city in relation to Quebec City and Ottawa, while highlighting the need to strengthen ties with the Quebec government. The municipal elections will take place on Nov. 2, 2025. In February, the Official Opposition party Ensemble Montréal announced MP Soraya Martinez Ferrada was its new leader. The two other parties represented at city hall are Équipe LaSalle Team led by LaSalle borough mayor Nancy Blanchet and Équipe Anjou led by Anjou borough mayor Luis Miranda. Last fall, Montreal mayor Valérie Plante announced she would not seek a third term in office after seven years on the job. "I realized I was not able to guarantee Montrealers four more years with the same level of energy that I have always given," she told a room of reporters and staff at city hall in October 2024. Plante has led the party since December 2016. She will continue to serve as mayor until the end of her mandate.