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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/downtown-montreal-regulation-building-owners-1.6232908
Downtown Montreal merchants' association calls for stricter rules on abandoned buildings | CBC News
After two vacant buildings caught fire in downtown Montreal in two days, the area's merchants' association wants landlords and owners to be held to account.
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Downtown Montreal merchants' association calls for stricter rules on abandoned buildings
Fires have to stop before someone dies, association executive director says
The downtown Montreal merchants' association is demanding mayoral candidates set the record straight on how they will tackle fires in vacant buildings, after two properties in the area went up in flames.
Glen Castanheira, executive director of the SDC Montréal Centre-Ville, says that for nearly a decade, the association has been calling on the city to adopt strict rules for landlords who choose to keep their buildings vacant.
"We're seeing a red hot real estate market that is having prices explode, which results in some properties being worth so much money that it is much more profitable to keep them vacant and wait for a buyout or a new project to be proposed rather than renting it out."
He says Montreal is one of the rare cities in North America that doesn't have strict rules to keep landlords responsible for the upkeep of properties they leave unoccupied.
Over a span of two days, two vacant buildings on Sainte-Catherine Street, the city's biggest commercial artery, caught fire.
Castanheira says he'd like to see all three mayoral candidates visit Sainte-Catherine Street this week and announce what they'll do within the first 100 days of their mandate to combat the challenges the downtown Montreal landscape is facing.
"We've seen it on the Plateau... we've seen it all over," he said. "This has to stop before someone dies and before something worse happens."
Promises to heighten measures
At a news conference Monday, Projet Montréal leader Valérie Plante said her party would employ a rent registry and an occupation certificate, which would force landlords and building owners to maintain their buildings' interiors in good condition.
"What we want to do is to support businesses to buy [spaces] where they're doing business so we can have more power over those empty places," she said.
Mayoral candidate Denis Coderre, leader of Ensemble Montréal, said Monday the city needs an administration that's "present" and that would listen to merchants' concerns to put an end to recurring fires in vacant buildings.
"I understand why Glen from downtown Montreal complained, because we sent messages to elected officials and the administration and they did nothing — and that's worrisome," he said.
"When we're talking about a plan of vigilance and security, it also means fighting poor sanitation and making sure there are more security cameras, and it means we're working proactively rather than reactively."
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merchant : a person whose job is to buy and sell products in large amounts, especiallly by trading with other countries
call for sth : to need or deserve a particular action, remark, or quality / to demand that something happens
abandoned : left in a particular place or condition, usually forever
tackle : to try to deal with something or someone / to talk to someone aboput a difficult situation, usually because you disagree with them
vacant : not filled or occupied; available to be used
flame : a stream of hot, burning gas from something on fire
landlord : a person organization that owns a building or an area of land and is paid by other people for the use of it
artery : an important road, river, or other transportation route
heighten : to increase or make something increase, especially an emotion or effect
sanitation: the systems for taking dirty water and other waste products away from buildings in order to protect people's health