Airbnb is 'not a good corporate citizen,' says Quebec tourism minister

Quebec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx walks to a Cabinet meeting, Wednesday, April 3, 2019 at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

The finger-pointing between Airbnb and Quebec continued this week after the province's tourism minister accused the short-term rental giant of not being "a good corporate citizen."

Caroline Proulx made the comments during a media scrum Wednesday at the National Assembly when asked by reporters to respond to Airbnb's opposition to Bill 25.

The bill, tabled in the Quebec legislature on May 9, would require companies like Airbnb to verify whether or not listings for accommodation have a valid certificate. If passed, it would also set fines of up to $100,000 for rental platforms for non-compliance.

"Under no conditions, will it be the status quo with Airbnb," Proulx said Wednesday.

"We asked to run ads with registration numbers, a pretty simple request. They didn't want to, we said we were going to change the rules of the game, that accountability was going to be on the platforms. So that's the name of the game."

The tough talk comes one day after Airbnb's policy adviser Camille Boulais-Pretty criticized Bill 25 in an interview with The Canadian Press, saying the proposed legislation is forcing the company "to do the work of civil servants" and that it's the responsibility of the government to do the necessary checks.

"The platforms will have to manually check each of the [registration] certificates and verify their validity … We don't have the role of the regulator. We don't have the power of the regulator. We don't have the power of the police," Boulais-Pretty said.

She said Bill 25 presents a "too heavy" administrative burden on the company, and that the company would prefer a system in which it would take down ads for short-term rentals at the request of the government.

Proulx fired back on Wednesday by saying there are close to 20 private companies operating in Quebec that would be subject to Bill 25 and they have their share of the responsibility to ensure they comply with the law.