Rental Amenities and the Stability of Hedonic Prices: A Comparative Analysis of Five Market Segments

The current paper applies the hedonic approach to five rental submarkets in the Quebec region, namely Quebec City, Vanier, Ste-Foy, Beauport and Charlesbourg. The databank consists of information obtained from property owners via a yearly survey; some 32,000 rental units and nearly 3,300 buildings are included in the study. Data provide detailed information on building and apartment size, age, location, services provided, quality of premises and type of occupants; vacancy rates can also be derived from the bank. In addition, resorting to a regional geographic information system permits integration of neighborhood effects into the analysis. Findings suggest that significant differences in implicit prices do exist across market segments. However, while consistent results are obtained for major rent determinants, collinearity clearly emerges with respect to some rental attributes. Using a regression-based paired comparison approach, it is possible to identify stable hedonic prices for main rental services; the coefficients thus obtained are then forced back as constraints into the service-adjusted model, thereby improving its overall consistency and practicability.

Building Affordable Rental Housing in Unaffordable Cities: A Canadian Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

Many Canadian cities are short of affordable rental housing. Waiting lists for low-income housing are years in length, and new-build construction of rental housing has fallen over the last two decades. This study proposes a better way to build more low-income housing in expensive Canadian cities. A made-in-Canada Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) could leverage private sector expertise in site location, building, and management to build more and better low-income rental housing.social policy, Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, social housing

La responsabilité de la mère pour le préjudice causé par son enfant

Dans le présent texte, l'auteure aborde les questions suivantes : comment le droit de la responsabilité pour autrui voit-il le rôle de la mère gardienne, éducatrice et surveillante de son enfant ? Le rôle de la mère est-il valorisé ? S'harmonise-t-il avec son mandat de travailleuse à l'extérieur de la maison ? Comment se compare-t-il aux obligations parentales du père ? Et, plus généralement, comment l'obligation parentale est-elle analysée par rapport au rôle de la société dans la protection et l'éducation des enfants ? Après un rappel historique et un résumé de l'état du droit en matière de faute présumée des parents, l'auteure examine la jurisprudence des 20 dernières années au regard de certains éléments de la critique féministe. Elle constate que les décisions étudiées rendent souvent le travail de la mère invisible, répartissent les tâches différemment entre père et mère et, finalement, imposent un modèle rigide de la mère idéale. L'auteure critique aussi la privatisation des risques créés par les fautes des enfants et l'absence de reconnaissance de la responsabilité de la société à cet égard. Enfin, l'auteure évalue des modifications législatives possibles, soit l'élimination de la présomption de faute ou son remplacement par un régime de faute qualifiée. Elle conclut que ces réformes pourraient être inutiles à moins qu’une conception égalitaire du rôle parental ne soit élaborée par les tribunaux.The author addresses the following questions : How does the law of liability for damage or injury caused by another consider the mother in her role as guardian, educator and surveillant of her child ? What value is given to the mother's role ? Is this role in harmony with the mother's working life outside the home ? How does this compare with the role-obligations of the father ? More generally, how does parental obligation stand up to analysist in relation to society's role in protecting and educating children ? After a brief background and summary of the law in matters of presumed fault of parents, the author examines the case law of these past twenty years in light of certain feminists' critiques. She notes that the decisions under study often render the mother's labor invisible, divides tasks differently between fathers and mothers and lastly, imposes a rigid model of an ideal mother. The author also criticizes the privatization of risks created by children's faults and the absence of recognition of society's responsibility in this respect. Finally, the author reviews possible legislative amendments, namely the elimination of the presumption of fault or its replacements by a regimen of qualified fault. She concludes that these reforms could prove useless the courts develop an egalitarian view of the parental role

An Evaluation Model for Non-Governmental Organizations Engaged in Advocacy

The article proposes a model to evaluate the effectiveness of NGOs that engage in advocacy for compliance with international human rights and civil liberties standards or constitutional rules. The model draws on the analysis of social movement effectiveness, ombudsmen’s roles and the literature on the evaluation of human rights NGOs at the international level. It establishes ways to measure the legitimacy and effectiveness of advocacy NGOs. In particular, it suggests that transparency and independence must be constantly demonstrated, that factual accuracy must always be sought and that legal compliance must be shown to have moral and public interest resonance. The article also discusses the choices between short term and long term strategies

An Evaluation Model for Non-Governmental Organizations Engaged in Advocacy

The article proposes a model to evaluate the effectiveness of NGOs that engage in advocacy for compliance with international human rights and civil liberties standards or constitutional rules. The model draws on the analysis of social movement effectiveness, ombudsmen’s roles and the literature on the evaluation of human rights NGOs at the international level. It establishes ways to measure the legitimacy and effectiveness of advocacy NGOs. In particular, it suggests that transparency and independence must be constantly demonstrated, that factual accuracy must always be sought and that legal compliance must be shown to have moral and public interest resonance. The article also discusses the choices between short term and long term strategies

Deference to Legislatures: The Case of the 2018 Ontario Better Local Government Act

This article analyzes the legislative debates on Ontario’s Better Local Government Act, 2018 through the prism of the reasons why deference should be conferred on choices made by legislatures. It uses the works of British scholar Aileen Kavanagh and Canadian scholar Yasmin Dawood to define a nuanced model of deference focused on the manner in which legislatures have engaged with the problem of rights protection. It provides a six-point framework that summarizes current caselaw and integrates Dawood’s and Kavanagh’s insights. The framework suggests that deference is not warranted on the definition of rights, “manner and form” legislative prescriptions, or partisan self-entrenchment motivations, but is warranted for the resolution of multifaceted issues, informed by governmental expertise, and subject to meaningful parliamentary debates focused on rights and accompanied by participation of electors. The article then carefully analyses the entire parliamentary debates surrounding the Better Local Government Act, 2018. It focuses, as Kavanagh suggests, on the importance of distinguishing between the quality of the decision-making process and the quality of the individual reasoning, the former being the matter that courts should assess, rather than the latter. The article concludes that deference is not warranted in the case of the Better Local Government Act, 2018, since the legislative debates did not focus on expertise, were truncated, dealt minimally with the possible rights violations, and did not offer any participatory possibility. The article also offers some conclusions as to the proper use of parliamentary debates. It concludes that courts could send a signal that deference is owed only when governments and legislatures take rights seriously and provide a rationale for their choices. This may create the right incentives for Parliamentarians to address Charter concerns