The mayor is pressing Quebec to act on Airbnb rentals. Radio-Canada says Revenu-Québec hasn’t fined anyone since June 2018.
Updates from April, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The McCord Museum is going to double in size in its current location, swelling to 10 floors and taking over tiny Victoria Street to do so.
SteveQ
I think eliminating Victoria street is a very good idea, especially if they use part of that space for pedestrians.
Max
I guess by “empty lot on Président-Kennedy Avenue” they mean these buildings will be torn down?
Kate
Max, I suppose so. That was a well-known French restaurant for years and years, but it closed awhile back – do you know what’s in the building now?
Max
They’re both vacant as far as I know.
I’m as glad as the next person to hear that the McCord is expanding “in situ”. But it irks me that we’re losing buildings of some architectural merit, while the media makes like they never existed in the first place. Hopefully somebody will at least save that rooster weathervane.
Alex
Maybe they could be incorporated into the new structure in some way?
Kate
Alex, those buildings always looked a bit fake to me, like a stage set. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d bet there’s just a little brick box under the façade.
Ian
You never know, there were some genuine article mansions in that neighbourhood. Chances are if they were original though, they were ruined by commercial use over many decades. I suspect there’s a reason that fancy building the old restaurant was in has stood empty for so long, and it may not just be property speculation. At one time asbestos was actually required of certain categories of use, and it’s from the right vintage.
Meezly
That French restaurant was Le Caveau – had my wedding rehearsal dinner there back in the day! I was there recently and saw McCord Museam placards covering up the windows of that empty building, so McCord must be expanding into that. Maybe I’ve only noticed now that I have a kid, but McCord offers pretty interesting summer daycamps too, so their expansion would help benefit the surrounding community.
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Kate
Tourisme Montreal has a goofy plan to make Montreal the «capitale gastronomique de l’Amérique du Nord». This is silly if only because, while we’re already reasonably well known as a place to get decent eats, we’ll never be able to compete with the range of offerings and cuisines in places like New York and L.A. and – dare I even whisper it – Toronto.
A lot of money can be spent chasing a stupid marketing concept like this, a lot of ink can be spilled, and it’s just hot air.
SteveQ
I beg to differ. Montreal can easily compete with these 3 places. Better, Montreal can outperform these 3 places in certain areas of ”gastronomy”. While I agree with you that in high end restaurants, these rich places may have an advantage, but when it comes to affordable restaurants, you can easily find places for a $10 or $15 interesting meal in Montreal while almost impossible in the other 3.
And that’s not counting what Montreal, and the region, is known for. Other than poutine, bagels, maple syrup, and smoked meat, there’s a world of local products that is worth being put forward to attract the attention of people. An american friend was here several years ago and was being suggested, by other Americans, to do the ”cheese route” and then the ”cidre route”. I didn’t even know we had that. But that’s great !
No wonder why Montreal was a favorite of Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern. And even yesterday, I read that an american director, Jonahan Levine, said in an interview that: ”I admit that the main reason I love Montreal is….the restaurant”.
That kind of ”plan” reasonates very well with ”food travellers”
Therefor, never under estimate your potential !
Kate
SteveQ, if you don’t think affordable food can be found in those cities, it makes me wonder where you’ve been.
Look, you know I love Montreal. But we don’t have as large or as wealthy a populace, and while we may get foodie tourists for some part of the year, they stay away for about half, and who can blame them. Likewise, although Quebec every so often tries to present itself like a province of France in terms of cheese, cider and even wine, we don’t have the ancient terroir or the growing season of France, and we don’t have the climate or farmlands of California that L.A. and San Francisco benefit from.
Given our privations I think we do really well, but we will never be the continent’s capital of gastronomy, that’s sheer silly talk.
Ephraim
They need to justify their existence as a hidden private enterprise that survives on tax money and overpays their management to think of nonsense because even most of the tourism businesses in this city don’t trust them.
We need the city of Montreal to take this away from the Board of Trade and actually bring in representatives from ALL of the tourism businesses and actually do a good job of getting people here. This is one of the biggest industries in Montreal and a profitable one… and we are letting these idiots screw it up.
Ian
Toronto’s restaurant scene is so far beyond Montreal’s it is crazy, except for very specific things like Quebec cheese, Lebanese fast food, and Jewish food. They even have decent poutine now. The thing that makes Toronto exceptional is the incredible diversity. You like Ethiopian? There is an entire neighbourhood where every sign is written in Ethiopian, with dozens of amazing restaurants. You like Chinese? There are 3 Chinatowns, not counting the short trip to Markham, where Montreal has a China block. You like Vietnamese? Again, 2 big neighbourhoods. You like roti? No problem, there are specific places to go for Indian, Jamaican, or vegan. You like Vietnamese ethnic Chinese? There are a bunch of really good places. How about Chinese ethnic Vietnamese? Ditto. You like sushi? Do you want high end or fast food, Korean or Japanese style? You like French food? Tibetan food? German food? Caribbean food? I could go on all day. Toronto’s food scene blows Montreal out of the water, _especially_ for cheap eats.
Shaving truffles and foie gras on everything and calling it fine dining? Yeah. Montreal’s got _that_ market cornered.
walkerp
While I don’t totally disagree with you, Ian, you are clearly missing out on several developments in ethnic food in Montreal. The new Chinatown around Concordia has several really good restaurants that bring up to date regional chinese dishes beyond what there is in the traditional Chinatown (and that neighbourhood to has improved significantly in the last few years). Likewise, Indian food up on Jean-Talon between Parc and Acadie is quite good.
Ian
Yeah I’m aware that the old porn district is now the noodle district. Yes, it is much better than even 10 years ago – though I like the Japanese food in that area .
…but have you really explored Toronto? Next time check out the west Chinatown on Queen just past Parliament, which by itself dwarfs everything Montreal has to offer, or if you like Indian food, the southeast Asian community on Sheppard is vastly more extensive and diverse than Parc-Ex.
I’m not saying we don’t have any good food here, just that Toronto has way more, more options, with way more diversity, from street food to fine dining and everything in between as one might expect in a city that is more than twice the size, far more ethnically diverse, and situated in the most densely populated region of Canada. Quebec has Montreal and that’s it – Ontario has the entire Golden Horseshoe.
SteveQ
@Kate: I didn’t say you can’t find affordable meals in those places. But I will say that with $10 or $15, you will find much more interesting meals in Montreal, no doubt. Unless you count the hot dogs in Toront, the Pizza slices in NYC or the tacos in LA, Montreal will offer more and better for your bucks.
But I agree with you when I comes to high end restaurants. While we are dojng very well, much more than expected, it is hard to compete with their wealthy populace, as you say.
JaneyB
I’ll have to agree with Ian on this one. I love Montreal in a thousand ways, one of which is cheese related, another potluck picnic etc. Still, Torontonians eat out as a form of recreation. They spend most of their leisure dollars on restaurants. It’s just nuts. The food scene there is vast and lots of it is affordable ethnic eats (that really only locals can find). It doesn’t just sport restos however. For instance, you can access dozens of Iranian bakeries, each with specialties. It really is extraordinary there.
Ian
@SteveQ it’s not just smog dogs – you can get really inexpensive food from all over the world. The roti scene alone is amazing, but you can also eat cheap in any of the southeast Asian styles, they kind of specialize in it, you know… and yes, you can walk into any Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant and get an amazing hearty bowl of soup full of veg and noodles and meat if that’s your jam – or if you are strictly vegan there are dozens of strictly Buddhist restaurants. Like I said, I could go on all day. Also like Janey points out there is . ton of specialization, not because they are rich, but because there is the population to support it. Even finding fresh natas or chinese bbq is a struggle in Montreal because food inspectors don’t comprehend ethnic food.
walkerp
Yeah, I don’t know about these cheap eats in Montreal. No decent slices. No deli sandwiches. No burritos (or barely). No bbq pork noodle places. What am I missing?
Ian
You’re right, we really do have some good cheap eats here. Some. What you’re missing is the diversity, range, and availability. Even burritos are a relatively new thing here, a decade ago there were almost no Mexican places in Montreal. Toronto was well in on the burrito scene as far back as the 80s, again, there is no comparison. You sound like somebody from Laval saying they have all the same stuff Montreal does so there’s no point coming in to the city.
walkerp
I am agreeing with you about the lack of cheap eats and was asking where I could find them.
Ian
Oh my bad, I know where you can get all that stuff, just not the variety. Depending on what you mean by decent slices though, there’s no real NY style slices here AFAIK. Assuming you don’t mean smoked meat, deli sandwiches are best had at a deli. My fave is Charcuterie Atlantique now that Boulangerie Clark is closed, but Snowdon deli is pretty awesome too. For BBQ noodles your best bet is Hong Kong style fast food in Chinatown, there’s a good place in the basement of the building Kim Fung is in (shhh) but there’s also My Canh on St. Larry just below R-L for the best Vietnamese soup in Chinatown (IMO) or if you like freshly hand made beefy noodles there’s the place right by the escalator to the grocery store in the basement of the Swatow. For burritos specifically I like Arriba Burrito on Mont Royal but for Mexican in general with more of a homestyle vibe I adore Tamalera on Fairmount.
Like I said, you can get all this stuff… just the diversity and availability are more of a struggle in a smaller city, local specialties aside.
walkerp
Ah those delis are a trip for me but will keep them in mind for when exploring those nether regions.
It is odd how rare decent, cheap lunch food is here. Mile End around Ubisoft has improved considerably with that massive market, but I still see a massive market for decent slices or burritos. It’s either fast food or way too upscale.
SteveQ
@ Ian: I totally agree with you, especially on Asian restaurants. Even though we can get good and interesting meals in Asian restaurants here, Toronto, Vancouver, LA, SF and NY are ahead of us no doubt.
But where we stand out is by being different than other places with an almost perfect balance beetwen all that the world can offer. From the affordable BYOB in the heart of the city to the OKA area cheese producers, from the underground snack bars to the Jean-Talon and Atwater market, from the french offerings in the Plateau to the Lebanese joints in Chomedey and St-Laurent, from the Haitian mom and pop places in Saint-Michel to the East Europeans of the Main, from the québecois bineries to Little Italy, from the Cheskie’s to the Romados of this world, from the many micro-breweries to the still standing farmlands surrounding Montreal, from the Joe beef to the Pied de Cochon, from the Morrocan bakeries on Jean-Talon East to the Greeks joints in Parc-Ex, from the Chez Toqué to Chez Claudette and…. (I have to end this eventually), from the Peruvians restos in Villeray and St-Hubert street to the Irish pubs on Crescent/Bishop area….
I think we are doing pretty well and have an amazing array of diversity of food that is hard to match.
There’s also very good Iranian places in NDG and Sherbrooke west. More and more Afghan restaurants both on L’Acadie and in Chomedey. Indian and south indian in Parc-ex, 3 asian neighborhoods (The original Chinatown, the Ste-Cath west and Brossard), Caribean places in La Salle. Falafel joints in St-Pierre and one in Mile End and of course plenty of hipster places in St-Henri, Mile Ex and elsewhere.
NY style slices: Adamo on Notre-Dame ouest in Saint-Henri. 2 big slices for $8 or $9 (they are very good)
Tacos : Frida’s on Notre-Dame Ouest and Victor’s taco right next block.By the way, great discussion and good points form all sides!
Ian
I haven’t quite gotten over my dismay that so many of my favourite diners in St Hank got shut down for hipster joints but it sounds like it’s worth heading back to explore Notre Dame… and at least the Green Spot is still there 🙂
Ian
Oh, & walkerp – Mile-End has a lot more second rate sushi places it’s true but since Boulangerie clark shut down the lunch scene has indeed tended toward fast food or pricy. That said, Batory, the remarkably underrated Polish deli on Saint Viateur is still there, and is Barros Lucos on Fairmount & Saint Urbain which does really good inexpensive Peruvian food. If you hop on the 80 you get get to Jean Talon in minutes though and there are way more options all the way from Parc to Acadie. Also worth considering is catching the 55 to Beaumont, there are cheap eats there between St Larry and St Hubert, in particular a few tiny & inexpensive South & Central American places worth exploring.
CE
I’ve never been to Batory, in fact, I’ve never even really noticed it and I live just a few blocks away. I’ll check it out this week. The sandwiches look good. Barros Lucos is Chilean, it’s the only place I’ve been able to get a typical simple hearty lunch like I used to eat often while living in Colombia.
One thing Montreal does very well is cafés. I remember being in Brooklyn (outside of Willimasburg and Park Slope) once and walking around for quite a while and never finding a place to take a seat and have a coffee and pastry. I ended up at Dunken Donuts. In Montreal, even the most neglected working class neighbourhood will have at least a few local cafés.
Meezly
Further to what Ian said, the Chinese noodle place at Swatow is Lan Zhou noodles (there’s also Zhonghua across from McGill campus on Sherbrooke which may even surpass Lan Zhou, imho). And the Cantonese joint below Kam Fung (now apparently Kim Fung) is Dobe & Andy (good noodles, but a wee sketchy in cleanliness). Noodle Factory ain’t bad either. But having grown up in Vancouver, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that there is no awesome Cantonese cuisine to be found in Montreal proper. There seems to be better choices for mainland Chinese, Korean, Thai & Vietnamese. Several inexpensive Korean restos and take-out spots have popped up in Mile End/Plateau in recent years, which is interesting and much appreciated.
Ian
@CE right, Chilean, my mistake. Not for a lack of eating there, it’s my favourite place to grab a quick bite on my way to other places.
@Meezly thanks for all the names, I just know them by smell and general location 😀 FWIW the new Korean place on the corner of Saint V & Fairmount is actually pretty good, I think it’s a better fit than the last 2 restaurants in the same location so I hope they do well enough to stay open. I still miss the German restaurant that used to be there but at least I can get my German food at Charcuterie Atlantique even if it’s not as convenient.DeWolf
@walkerp – I can think of half a dozen Chinese BBQ places just off the top of my head. That said, I can’t vouch for their quality, except for one place: Dak Hing on Van Horne/Victoria, right next to Plamondon metro. The char siu and siu yok is good even by Hong Kong standards (seriously). It’s worth a trip.
I also suggest heading out to the strip of Decarie in VSL between Côte-Vertu and de l’Église metros. There are some good mainland Chinese spots there, plus a very good Chinese-Vietnamese place that does delicious noodles served with a side of pork bone broth, plus an amazing side dish of Chinese doughnut with a meatball in broth (for only $3!).
Some of the new Chinese places opening up west of Concordia are really good. They cater to the foreign students and mainland Chinese families living in the area so they aren’t watering down their cuisine for the mass market.
Meezly
@Ian, are you referring to La Belle Coree on Fairmount and St-Urbain? that place is pretty good, so hoping they’ll endure in that location too. Have you tried Hansang on Parc and Hoya on Mont-Royal Ave? (I think the food is a little better with better pricing).
simon harel
How sad. Everybody talks about food. Everybody gives numbers. How many restaurants? How many “ethnic” restaurants? I can eat that or try this. Looks like being Hanoi or Teheran. Have you travelled? Every city boasts multiculturalism as a key to cosmopolitism. It is a bland cliché The foodie’s scene is not different. Variety is the rule of the game. Compounding how many restaurants the riches can afford is the new game in town. So boring, So North-American. I don’t care about Toronto. If you want to compare… choose the cities that count. Folks, let me tell you what is different in Montreal. Food is not a social status. Its a way of life. Have you ever heard about Canadian cuisine? Nope. This is the point to consider. Have you heard about Montreal – métissé – cuisine? Yes. If not, move on. The homegrown products, the chefs, the crowd and the proudness of being what we are. Simple. That is what Bourdain found in Montreal. That’s what Bourdain found in New Orleans. Go to Mousso. You’ll get a glimpse of what I mean. So surprising that so-called experts can’t name a real restaurant emerging from the vast scene of Montreal own cooking Laboratory. Well, we don’t live in the same part of town. Languages issues…Cultural misconceptions… Sheer ignorance?
simon harel
Bourdain:
Most Canadian food in Canada
“It’s the most uniquely Canadian food in Canada. In Vancouver the cuisine is a very strong mix of great Asian food from all over Asia, a lot of great homegrown stuff, but the cuisine in Montreal could exist nowhere else other than Quebec. It looks and tastes different from food anywhere else and the chefs, particularly when you’re talking about Martin (Picard), or Fred (Morin) or Dave (McMillan), are unlike chefs anywhere else.”
— interview with The Canadian Press in 2012
Tim
@simon harel: that quote is seven years old and I’m sure everyone on this blog knows pied de cochon and joe beef. The general direction of the comments have veered towards cheap eats not sophisticated cuisine.
As someone who is done with $30 and up plates in this city, I continue to appreciate the variety of selection that is available in the grocery stores in Montreal. Meats that would only be found in specialty butcher shops in other parts of the country can be found in any grocery store in Montreal. This, to me, is something to celebrate.
Ian
It’s been a while since that trio were considered trendsetters, let’s be honest here. Joe Beef & Pied du Cochon are basically places for rich tourists or to bring business associates on an expense account. Even Vancouver surpassed Montreal for fine dining yers ago. Like I said, shaving truffles and foie gras on everything and calling it fine dining? Yeah. Montreal’s got _that_ market cornered.
“So boring, So North-American. I don’t care about Toronto. If you want to compare… choose the cities that count. Folks, let me tell you what is different in Montreal. Food is not a social status. Its a way of life. Have you ever heard about Canadian cuisine? Nope. This is the point to consider. Have you heard about Montreal – métissé – cuisine? Yes.”
Spoken like someone with a narrow provincial outlook. There actually is a Canadian haute cuisine, maybe if you actually paid attention to anyone besides TV celebrity chefs from nearly a decade ago you might have heard of it.
Montreal’s real charm is that whiel we bicker about our cultures one thing we all get together on is our love of food. Other cities may have fancier food, more diverse food, maybe even better food, but you would be hard pressed to find another place in the world where to start a serious argument all you have to ask is “where are the best bagels and smoked meat”. We care very deeply about food in Montreal, but that’s not something the Tourism board is even remotely capable of tapping into. Maybe for practice they can make another promotional video.
Ian
@Meezly yeas, Belle Corée. TBH if I’m really hankering for Korean I like Chez Bong in Chinatown, best dolsot bibimbap in town IMO – though there are also lots of good little places out in NDG/Upper Lachine and the Saint Kitty noodle district. Even the Mon Ami chain is pretty good, they especially make excellent fried chicken.
I’ll take any of the places Meezly or DeWolf suggested over another pretentious $20 burger any day.
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Kate
Antisemitic incidents are still on the rise in Canada – with the highest numbers in Quebec, many of them from Montreal, although B’nai Brith appears to feel that student criticism of Israel is by definition antisemitic so that may be adding to the numbers.
Ephraim
Some of it is, some of it isn’t. Some of it is simply a way of hiding anti-semitism in what appears to be polite conversation. Are they also condemning the occupation of Northern Ireland, Northern Cyprus, Crimea, Western Sahara, Transnistria, etc? Not to mention Kashmir, Jammu, Sabah, Gibraltar, etc. And should we even mention Hawaii, which was forced into the US without even a plebiscite?
Should we mention that Israel is under 75% Jewish. The rest being Christians, Muslims, Druze, and others.
Ian
Hawaii was forced into the US under the rifles of a squad of Marines on behalf of the Dole family… But yeah, international colonialism is kind of a hot topic on campuses these days, hadn’t you noticed? Difference is I don’t recall anyone threatening lawsuits or accusing anyone of racism over people denouncing the occupation of all those other places…
Ephraim
Ian… because hardly anyone ever mentions the other occupations. Haven’t seen a “Free Jammu” sign.
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Kate
CBC investigated a lot of Airbnb offerings and finds it’s hardly a home-sharing service any more because most are run by a couple of big corporations, usually with a fictitious friendly front. I especially enjoy their tracking down of the friendly “owner” images to stock photo services. Similar report on Radio-Canada.
There’s also a plan afoot to pass laws to more firmly regulate Airbnb type rentals. I’d be surprised if the law concerned itself with the attack on neighbourhood life with the sapping of domestic rentals and affordability, though – a thing plaguing other cities besides ours. It’s probably going to be mostly about collecting taxes.
Ephraim
Still waiting for someone to ROAST Revenu Quebec by asking them how much they have brought in via taxes and fines for those doing it illegally.
The laws changed… if you are doing this where you live, you only need a city permit. But if you are doing a whole apartment where you don’t live, you need a CITQ rating and sign.
We need to look at Barcelona, Vancouver and Berlin and see how we can reign in AirBnB. Not just for the tax money. AirBnB falls in line if the regulations are strong enough. In one Florida city, if the city finds you in an apartment that is illegally rented, you are thrown out immediately… makes you think twice about renting. And AirBnB is complicit…. it hides people’s addresses and identities to help them evade taxes.
PS: We also need to change the laws and require either AirBnB to issue a Releve with the income or we need to require banks to issue a Releve with income from outside resources transfered to your account. Either way, the money will be traced and a lot of questions asked.
Ephraim
The most important paragraph: “Or, à ce jour, aucun constat d’infraction n’a été délivré, alors que l’ampleur de ce phénomène a été documentée, particulièrement au Québec, par une enquête réalisée par Radio-Canada.”
Not a single fine!
Ian
You really do have to wonder what they are waiting for, it’s like we have been primed for a big crackdown, literally everything is in place to jump, and then …. nothing.
Ephraim
@Ian – Can you imagine how much in GST, QST and income taxes in the last 7 years that is unreported? I would start looking at the transfers of money from AirBnBs accounts and then if it goes over $10K petition a judge to see the name of the account holder.
And all you have to do is catch them once… RQ can then just make up numbers for the undeclared taxes and you have to prove you declared and what you declared. The first person auditted would scare the hell out of everyone else!
Ian Rogers
Millions at a guess, in Montreal alone. Supposedly up to 30% of the rental stock in Mile-End is illegal AirBnBs and judging by AirBnB listings in my area I believe it. How many of the sold out units in those new developments downtown are actually inhabited?
CE
A friend of mine cleaned Airbnbs in the Tour des Canadiens while it was still under construction and she figured that not a single person lived there full time.
Chris
Ian: why do you think they are waiting for anything? Evidence suggests they like the status quo. Tourists love AirBnB, homeowners love it (can make an extra buck). Yes, hoteliers like Ephraim hate it (understandably), just like cabbies hate Uber, but Joe Average loves Uber.
Ephraim
And just to show you how much of a criminal enterprise AirBnB and it’s users are…. the account of Mike that was discussed this morning in the article… is now Seb https://www.airbnb.com.mt/users/show/318040 and a brand new stock image https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-beard-boy-casual-220453/
Tim S.
Hoteliers, cabbies, and people who think the function of governments is to enforce laws passed by democratically elected representatives.
Ephraim
Chris – I deal with the underside of this business. I get the begging and pleading phone calls. But I also see it in a way that others don’t… as the absentee landlord. And I see it for the taxes it steals. But, that being said, I would have no problem if it was an honest business… it’s not. It’s full of crooked people… and that starts at the top of the business model. And government has a part in this… RQ doesn’t make them collect GST/QST like they make Expedia, Booking and other reservation systems collect the taxes. And those missing taxes? You and I pay them. Their hide the addresses for no other reason than to evade taxes. People won’t put up pictures of their homes, because then RQ might find them and make them pay their fair taxes. It’s a criminal enterprise… otherwise, come to government, offer to show them who made what, offer them the names and addresses, be upfront. Time and time again they have refused, even when ordered by courts.
Incidentally, the government did make at least one change to the law because of AirBnB… if you live on premises, you no longer have to post the government sign and no longer have to pay partial commercial property taxes. So my tax bill went down. And those people who rent their own place when they are gone… and those who rent a room in their apartment… all legal now. But if you rent an full apartment for under 30 days and you don’t live their as your person primary residence… you need a permit from the city, a rating from the CITQ and a sign. If you are missing any of those components, you are illegal. If you are doing less then $30K a year in business, you don’t need to collect GST or QST. But look at those listings on AirBnB, these people are running underground hotels… not paying their GST, QST, commercial property taxes and likely not declaring the income. This is today’s underground economy and the fact that RQ isn’t finding it… is their personal shame.
Ian
Thing is, construction, property development, and property management are VERY profitable not just for the people in those businesses or even for the city (which they are) but also… wait for it… Revenu Québec.
Maybe it’s in certain parties’ best interests to let sleeping dogs lie, and MAYBE somebody getting ready to pounce was told to back the hell of and not upset the applecart.
Kind of like how the city pleads helplessness in the face of gentrification when it’s clear that property value increases are in their best interests as those taxes are one of their main sources of revenue.
Remember, it’s not called “Impot Québec”, it’s REVENU Québec.
Ian
…my point being that while we complain about all the residential AirBnB the main source of profit is those big new developments downtown that aren’t actually occupied by full-time residents. Millions upon millions of dollars are at stake here, those places get built and have “full occupancy”, that lines a lot of pockets. Maybe more than going after AirBnB. Maybe A LOT more.
Even the residential neighbourhood AirBnBs benefit the city as they contribute directly to scarcity which inflates selling rices and by extension property taxes… and all those tourists help support the inflated commercial taxes in places like Mile-End.
As always, cui bono? Follow the money and you’ll find your answer.
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Kate
Work is nearly complete on two projects at parc Jean-Drapeau – the amphitheatre, and the new paddocks for the Grand Prix.
Ephraim 10:51 on 2019-05-01 Permalink
What do you do what Revenu-Quebec isn’t doing it’s job? Who’s responsible (not the minister… management? Do we have the concept of responsibility within the system of Mandarins?)
It’s time that Revenu Quebec be required to publicly report openly on it’s activities so that we have a way to know if they are doing their job. Examples… report the number of “denonciations” that they have received and the percentage that were looked into. Then the amount of revenue from that, the amount paid out in finder’s fees. This doesn’t give out personal information, but does show if they are doing their job and where it’s working and where it isn’t. Without a report (I think quarterly) showing revenues, changes, etc. then how are we supposed to know that they are doing their job as they should.
Also, we need a report on the number of complaints, how fast they are handled, how many times people have had to go to their MNA or the ombudsman, how long that takes, etc. And a report on how much money they are holding in “unclaimed funds” and how many have been matched, etc.
Revenu-Quebec asks everyone else to make monthly, quarterly and annual reports and to produce them on time… I’m sure that they can manage to produce a few of their own.
Ian 11:57 on 2019-05-01 Permalink
Well said, Ephraim. For an agency that demands timely and thorough transparency from others it’s kind of shocking.