Éric Duhaime has received at least 14 notices of non-payment of council taxes on his Quebec properties between 2020 and now and has been taken to court and seized by the bailiff for unpaid school taxes.
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The leader of the Quebec Conservative Party has had several financial disputes with local and school authorities since 2018. with overdue accounts greater than $14,000.
To ignore
Mr. Duhaime initially pleaded ignorance. However, in the event of non-payment, the city will send out a large number of reminders.
Without commenting on the specific case of the Conservative Party leader, the City of Quebec confirms that it follows an identical procedure for any citizen who fails to pay their municipal taxes.
So, says spokesman David O’Brien, owners who want to sell for non-payment of taxes receive up to four bank statements per year. “Once a past-due balance deadline was passed, the city submitted a bank statement.” These communications are sent directly to the owner.
On one of Mr. Duhaime’s properties, almost the entire tax bill remained unpaid in 2020 and 2021. It is therefore logical to deduce that a total of eight notifications were sent out in these two years. Then, in 2022, the city sent out a reminder on February 21, a final reminder on May 30, and a reminder on August 26 for non-payment of taxes. . This was sent by registered mail. This document is sent to the owner and “requires a signature from the recipient,” says Mr O’Brien.
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Signature required
Therefore, 11 ratings were given for this property according to the usual procedure. The second property certainly received the three notices of 2022 as the bill had not been paid by August 26th. It’s also logical to assume that the city made one or more announcements in 2021. This brings the total to at least 14 opinions.
Mr Duhaime said last week his overdue bills were settled on Friday. It was impossible to confirm this information with the City of Quebec yesterday.
school taxes
The leader of the Quebec Conservative Party was also taken to court over outstanding school tax bills that a bailiff was supposed to collect.
Court documents revealed by La Presse, a copy of which was obtained by Le Journal, show Mr Duhaime also defaulted on paying his school taxes at the School Service Center (CSS) in the capital between October 2018 and January 2021. He thus had a bank statement accumulated of $2,411.76, including principal and interest.
Mandated Bailiff
CSS went to court to recover the amounts due. In June 2021, he obtained a judgment ordering Mr. Duhaime to pay $2,411.76. He also obtained an enforcement order from a bailiff. The latter was responsible for the “seizure of the movable property of the person against whom enforcement measures are being taken”, in this case Éric Duhaime, in July 2021.
In response to this new development, Éric Duhaime’s spokesman, Cédric Lapointe, said that “Mr. Duhaime was late in paying his taxes, along with the associated interest and penalties. He is accountable and takes full responsibility.”
– In collaboration with Gabriel Côté (Agency QMI)
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