Thank you very much for your question.
In real estate, there are obviously a lot of restrictions on rapid housing construction these days. When you submit a project to a municipality, it can take more than 12 months to get a building permit. However, in an inflationary market such as the one we're in, a project may no longer be viable 12 or 18 months after the application's filed. Many projects are submitted but then have to be amended to reduce costs and redesigned from top to bottom.
Consequently, expedited permitting would help us more effectively manage inflation-related risk in housing construction. Faster permitting for projects near core transportation corridors could also make it easier to link all the investments that the various orders of government make in public transit. Delays are really the issue.
Furthermore, regulations, which are increasingly strict for the types of buildings that must be constructed, add further costs to those associated with mere inflation and building quality. In Quebec, residential construction represents 4.2% of greenhouse gas emissions and motor vehicles 22%. We should address the problem holistically, taking the complexity of our cities into account, and come up with collective solutions to accelerate construction.