We are in the process of managing a $2 billion development project at Place Fleur de Lys, in the Quebec City region. It involves a former shopping centre that dates back to the 1960s and sits on three million square feet of land located next to the Centre Videotron, five minutes from Quebec's parliament.
I purchased the property for $60 million in July 2018 but couldn't secure the zoning I needed to begin my project until late 2022, despite massive community support for the project and the fact that the four neighbourhood committees in the neighbourhood surrounding our property and more than 63 community organizations had written in support of our foundational project for Quebec City. It was exactly like in The Twelve Tasks of Asterix: we had to find Permit 38 on the 17th floor, which doesn't exist. It took me nearly five years to get the zoning to begin construction of a single unit, even though the community supported the project. The three levels of government have generated so much regulation that we're still tilting at windmills in an attempt to resolve something simple.