Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Greetings to the witnesses.
My questions are for the representatives of the UMQ, the Union des municipalités du Québec.
Ms. Fournier, the Chair introduced you as the chair of the UMQ housing committee. That's one of the hats that you wear, but you're also the mayor of Longueuil, one of the largest cities in Quebec. It's a magnificent city. Thank you for being here, and I'd also like to greet Ms. Fortin, the UMQ's policy adviser.
Ms. Fournier, you explained in your statement how significant the issues are. There is homelessness, and there are needs for social housing and housing in general, and, for the cities, there's the whole infrastructure issue.
In Ottawa, we saw the Prime Minister and the Conservative leader accuse the cities of delaying housing starts. Then the Conservative leader introduced Bill C‑356, which would require the cities to increase housing starts by 15% every year. If they fail to meet that target, he says that it will reduce their payments from the gas tax fund, which is used to finance infrastructure, and from public transit funding. He would reduce those payments in proportion to the amount by which the cities fail to meet the new housing target. However, in the past year, as a result of interest rates, housing starts have declined by 60% instead of increasing by 15%, as the bill would require. That would therefore amount to a difference of 75%. Consequently, the municipalities would have lost 75% of their infrastructure and transit funding.
Do you think that might be a solution to the problem?