France-Élaine Duranceau

France-Élaine Duranceau is a Canadian politician, landlord, and real-estate agent, who was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2022 Quebec general election. She was appointed to cabinet named Minister of Housing. She represents the riding of Bertrand as a member of the Coalition Avenir Québec.^[1]

France-Élaine Duranceau MNA
Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for Bertrand
Incumbent
Assumed office October 3, 2022
Preceded by	Nadine Girault
Quebec Minister for Housing
Incumbent
Assumed office October 20, 2022
Preceded by	Andrée Laforest
Personal details
Political party	Coalition Avenir Québec

Minister of Housing

Ms. Duranceau made headlines in June 2023 when she tabled her first bill to amend the Housing Act. Bill 31 seeks to eliminate the right of tenants to transfer their leases. Previously, tenants were entitled to do so unless the landlord had good cause to reject the potential transferee,^[2] and allows landlords to increase prices on newly built housing without regard to the Administrative Tribunal on Housing's calculations for rent increases. ^[3] It was introduced at the end of the spring 2023 parliamentary session. The bill has stirred controversy, given the escalating housing crisis in Quebec.

As a former real estate broker, the Minister of Housing believes that it is not up to tenants to decide on rent prices, and that lease transfers should no longer be allowed. Minister Duranceau admitted to Radio-Canada radio that she was unaware of the number of tenants expected to be homeless on July 1st 2023. The start date for an annual lease in Quebec is generally July 1. ^[4] This has led to many ongoing questions about a potential conflict of interest and calls for the Minister to reisgn. ^{[5] [6]}

In November 2023, Duranceau was found to have "abusively favoured the personal interests of one of her friends (a real estate lobbyist)," by the ethics commissioner Ariane Mignolet. The Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire linked the breach of ethics with the minister’s Bill 31 on housing. “What this reveals today is not only that there was a failure on this level at the start of the mandate, it also reveals that the minister’s proximity to the real-estate developer community has also continued, taking into account Bill 31, where we very clearly see the minister’s bias toward real-estate projects, real-estate owners at the expense of tenants,” said PQ MNA Joël Arseneau.^[7]

Electoral record

v t e 2022 Quebec general election: Bertrand
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Avenir Québec	France-Élaine Duranceau
	Parti Québécois	Guillaume Freire
	Québec solidaire	Julie Francoeur
	Conservative	Philippe Meloni
	Liberal	André Nadeau
	Green	Karine Steinberger
	Parti humain	Marie-Eve Ouellette			–
	Climat Québec	Samuel Fortin			–
Total valid votes				–
Total rejected ballots				–
Turnout
Electors on the lists				–	–

References

1. Simon Cordeau, "Bertrand – France-Élaine Duranceau (CAQ) élue". Journal Accès, October 4, 2022.
2. Martin, Léa (2023-06-09). "«Un recul majeur» pour les locataires: c'est la fin des cessions de bail comme on les connaît au Québec". 24 heures (in French). Retrieved 2023-06-12.
3. ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Politique-. "Le projet de loi 31 sur l'habitation manque la cible, déplorent les propriétaires". Radio-Canada.ca (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2023-06-12.
4. ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Politique-. "La ministre Duranceau n'a pas de chiffres sur le nombre de sans-logis au 1er juillet". Radio-Canada.ca (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2023-06-12.
5. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/ethics-probe-quebec-housing-minister-1.6882871
6. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2047714/projet-loi-31-cession-bail-demission-france-elaine-duranceau
7. Montreal Gazette, Zone Politique-. "Quebec housing minister violated ethics code, commissioner finds". Radio-Canada.ca (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2023-12-02.