On February 13, the Member for Sherbrooke, Christine Labrie, presented Bill 896 to the National Assembly. The latter is intended to compensate local municipalities that are forced to cede land for the construction or expansion of schools. 

Specifically, the purpose of this bill is to allow municipalities that must transfer an immovable under section 272.2 to claim compensation from the government corresponding to the value of the land on the property assessment roll. 

This Bill amends the Education Act to provide compensation for local municipalities that are required to transfer land free of charge to a school service centre for the construction or expansion of a school, a vocational training centre or an adult education centre.

It also amends the Act to increase the time available for municipalities to give their opinion on and approve or reject a plan for the space requirements of a school service centre.

The Bill also amends the content of the Space Needs Planning Project produced by the School Service Centre to introduce a requirement for optimal land use planning with a focus on increasing land use density.

Finally, it gives the minister the power to cancel the obligation to cede land when he considers that a school service centre does not favour increasing the density of land use.

In recent years, the cities of Saint-Zotique and Vaudreuil-Dorion have had to give up land free of charge to the Centre de services scolaires des Trois-Lacs in order to accommodate a secondary school. The Municipality of Cèdres has also seen a new primary school set up on St-Féréol road. 

By 2028, the City of Saint-Zotique could host a new primary school in its territory due to the strong population growth of the Suroît region.