The pandemic has fostered the growth of the local economy, propelled by the public’s willingness to encourage local purchasing and support neighbourhood businesses. Projet Montréal intends to take advantage of this momentum to promote even more local Montréal businesses, but also the commercial arteries that contribute to our neighbourhoods’ vitality.
a. Increase the number of small local markets, build on existing public markets and support the creation of two new major public markets in the east and west of Montréal;
b. Support the pedestrianization of commercial arteries in the summer and extend terrace season;
c. Create an access program to maintain the affordability of premises on commercial streets;
d. Pursue the strategy of differentiated tax rates for non-residential buildings, thus allowing small commercial owners to continue to obtain tax reductions;
e. In collaboration with commercial development corporations, post a comprehensive map online of universally accessible businesses and services, and offer a delivery service for people with disabilities to compensate for the lack of access;
f. Continue the telephone support line for businesses created during the COVID-19 pandemic and set up a one-stop service for entrepreneurs;
g. Create a commercial vacancy certificate providing for maintenance standards;
h. In collaboration with the Government of Québec, implement mechanisms for owners of vacant premises to contribute financially to commercial development corporations;
i .Support the expansion of local decarbonized urban delivery services to the entire city;
j. Develop some form of support for on-street businesses to promote waste reduction and the sharing of goods (such as used bookstores, thrift stores, rental or goods sharing centres, etc.);
k. Review rules for food trucks to encourage small-scale entrepreneurship and ensure affordability and diversification of food offerings in underserved areas.