Minister for seniors considering axing home projects to avoid cost overruns

Quebec Minister for Health and for Seniors Sonia Belanger responds to the Opposition during question period, at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

Due to the “extremely worrying” increase in costs for seniors’ homes, Sonia Bélanger, is raising the possibility of axing projects.

The minister responsible for seniors planned to meet with the Société québécoise des infrastructures and Santé Québec on Thursday afternoon to review all seniors’ home projects.

“I will not hesitate to halt projects that are in the planning stages at this time,” she told reporters at the National Assembly on Thursday.

Bélanger indicated she had already stopped plans for a seniors’ centre in the Magdalen Islands and the Palmarolle project in Abitibi.

The minister was reacting to an article published in La Presse Thursday morning showing that the cost of the seniors’ home in Sainte-Élisabeth in Lanaudière was now close to $1.8 million per door.

“The Maison des aînés in Sainte-Élisabeth is a heritage building, a former convent. It’s a contract that was awarded in 2022-2023, for which there have been a lot of difficulties. So we’re talking about an exception here,” said Bélanger.

“I’d just like to point out that the average cost of seniors‘ homes is $800,000 (per door), not $1.8 million,” she added.

Le Devoir reported last week that several seniors’ home projects were now exceeding $1 million per door.

“Houston calls the Earth! These cost overruns have been known about for a long time. I questioned the minister last week during supply studies, and she continued to deny these figures,” wrote Parti Québécois MNA Joël Arseneau on X.

“This sudden and belated awakening is troubling, especially as the minister continues to boast about her ‘model’ and talks about a phase 2 and phase 3 of the Maisons des aînés.”

The government has delivered 42 seniors’ homes out of a target of 46.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French May 8, 2025.

Thomas Laberge, The Canadian Press