Law in Quebec

News about Quebec legal developments


  • Energy board commissioners lose key legal and political battles

    Quebec energy board commissioners have suffered major back-to-back legal and political losses after the Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision that held they performed quasi-judicial functions and the provincial government passed a sweeping and controversial reform that fundamentally weakens the regulatory powers of the Régie de l’énergie.

    The Quebec government invoked closure in the wee hours of a weekend morning to fast-track a contentious energy bill that will introduce widespread changes to the way the province’s energy sector operates, giving Hydro-Québec free rein to increase its electricity production, with the utility expected to invest some $200 billion by 2025. Bill 69, introduced in June 2024 but passed with the addition of 52 amendments at the last minute without public consultation, allows Hydro-Québec to bypass tendering rules when awarding certain contracts.

    But most alarmingly for critics, the new law curbs the independent oversight imparted by the Régie de l’énergie, an economic regulatory administrative tribunal that oversees the energy sector in Quebec. The Régie, established in 1997, had up until the passage of Bill 69 the power to set the rates and conditions of services for Quebec electricity and natural gas consumers after holding public hearings. Under Bill 69, the provincial government has given itself the right to impose an annual cap on residential rates on the Régie, and that spells trouble for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). “The politicization of electricity rates” means that SMEs will be subsidizing lower electricity costs for other consumers, maintains the business group.

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  • Monday’s Medley – Issue 06

    Each Monday I intend to provide a potpourri of Quebec (and Canadian) legal developments. Issue 06 takes a brief look at a number of class actions, beginning with the certification against Tim Hortons, one dealing with Mentor silicone breast implants, and a class action authorization against Thrifty, the car rental company. Also, a class action was certified against the federal government over workers’ rights.

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  • Monday’s Medley – Issue 05

    Each Monday I intend to provide a potpourri of Quebec (and Canadian) legal developments. Issue 05 takes a brief look at calls to make lakes and river more accessible, rights of transgender inmates, and the frightful scheming of AI.

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  • Quebec ordered to pay $164 million for Charter breach in class action suit

    The Quebec government has been ordered by Superior Court to pay a staggering $164 million in compensatory damages, plus interest, for knowingly violating the rights of thousands of individuals who were arrested and illegally detained for a longer period of time permitted by the Criminal Code prior to appearing before a Justice of the Peace.

    The comprehensive decision by Quebec Superior Justice Donald Bisson reveals that during a five-year stretch, from 2015 to 2020, the Quebec government stopped offering court appearances on Sundays and statutory holidays due to austerity measures, and failed “in their obligation” to put in place a system that complies with section 503 of the Criminal Code, “knowing full well that their flawed appearance system led to the systemic violation of the fundamental rights” of some 24,000 individuals.

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  • Quebec judicial council launches enquiry against municipal judge

    A Court of Quebec judge from the small claims division on the cusp of retirement is the subject of an enquiry by the Quebec Judicial Council due to “certain” conduct that “likely” constitutes a breach of the Judicial Code of Ethics.

    The unnamed judge was hearing a dispute from a plaintiff who sought reimbursement of past and future expenses for the care of two cats allegedly afflicted with health problems after they were purchased.

    The plaintiff complained about the judge’s conduct, and alleged a lack of impartiality, a lack of respect, poor management of the hearing, and an unjustified refusal to consult his personal notes during his testimony, all of which demonstrated bias by the judge.

    A playback of the hearing recording “reveals a lack of restraint and an inappropriate attitude,” noted the Conseil de la magistrature du Québec in A et Juge, Cour du Québec, Chambre civile, Division des petites créances, 2025 CanLII 48055 (QC CM).

    “The attitude observed suggests a loss of control in the exercise of judicial authority,” added the Conseil. “The judge’s imminent mandatory retirement cannot constitute an argument for refusing to conduct an enquiry. This is particularly so because of the educational and preventive nature of judicial ethics.”

    The Quebec Judicial Council received 150 complaints in 2024, according to its annual report. In all, 122 judges were the subject of a complaint during the year, with nearly a quarter of the complaints lodged against a judge sitting in the Small Claims Division of the Court of Québec.

    Of the 150 complaints, 46 were deemed unfounded at the study stage, 84 held to be unfounded after review, 19 are still being examined, and only one was retained for enquiry.

  • Drip pricing under the microscope following Quebec Court of Appeal ruling

    A Quebec Court of Appeal ruling that ordered Air Canada to pay more than $10 million in punitive damages in a class action lawsuit underscores the growing risks companies engaging in drip pricing face, according to legal pundits.

    The Appeal Court decision, following a long 15-year legal battle, marks the third significant case dealing with unbundled pricing over the past year, with the Competition Tribunal ordering Canada’s largest cinema chain, Cineplex Inc., to pay a record penalty of over $38.9 million for deceptive marketing practices by adding a mandatory $1.50 online booking fee, the first enforcement of the drip pricing provisions introduced by the amendments to Canada’s Competition Act. In June 2024, the Competition Bureau also reached an agreement with SiriusXM Canada, a subscription-based satellite radio and streaming content provider, over subscription price representations. Sirius agreed to pay a $3.3 million penalty, enhance its compliance program, and pledged not to engage in drip pricing.

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  • Monday’s Medley – Issue 04

    Each Monday I intend to provide a potpourri of Quebec (and Canadian) legal developments. Issue 04 takes a brief look at a rare public stance taken by the Court of Quebec, a college ordered to pay $10,000 in damages, and a popular online food delivery company accused of drip pricing.

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  • Provisions of provincial law abolishing school boards unconstitutional rules Quebec Appeal Court

    The Quebec Court of Appeal confirmed that certain provisions of a provincial law that abolished school boards unjustifiably infringe the rights guaranteed to Quebec’s minority language groups by the Canadian Charter, a ruling deemed by the English community as a sweeping win.

    In a “very-well written, well-reasoned judgment” that examined the nature and scope of the rights conferred by section 23 of the Charter, which guarantees minority language educational rights, the Appeal Court mostly upheld a lower court ruling that found sections of Bill 40 are inoperative to Quebec’s English-language school boards.

    The Quebec government announced in late May that it will seek leave to appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada.

    “It’s a perfectly sound, well-reasoned judgment from a legal standpoint, but I’m not surprised by the ruling,” remarked Érik Labelle Eastaugh, Dean, Faculty of law at the Université de Moncton and former head of the International Observatory on Language Rights. “Not surprising, but it’s an important judgment, given that it deals with certain issues that had never been squarely addressed by the courts until now.”

    Stéphane Beaulac, professor of constitutional law at the Université de Montréal, specializing in language law, and counsel at Dentons Canada in Montreal, too believes that the Appeal Court’s “well-reasoned” ruling “clears up questions” while “giving ample context” over the issues raised by s. 23 of the Charter. But Beaulac asserts that the Quebec Appeal Court may have too broadly defined the scope of the English-language minority community in Quebec covered by s. 23 of the Charter.

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  • Confidentiality breaches will no longer be published by Quebec privacy watchdog

    Québec’s privacy commissioner, the Commission d’accès à l’information (CAI), has had a change of heart, and announced it will no longer publish the list of organizations that have reported confidentiality incidents.

    Since 2022, all organizations operating in Québec had to report to the privacy watchdog any confidentiality breaches involving a risk of serious harm to the individuals concerned. The incidents were then published on CAI’s website as a list detailing the names of entities that had notified the CAI of a confidentiality incident involving personal information. The list also contained the nature of these entities as well as the date of receipt of the incident report.

    According to the Quebec privacy watchdog, the new policy is aimed at “enhancing the protection of personal information of citizens affected by confidentiality incidents.” The CAI maintains this new change will minimize the risk of harm to citizens, sidestep the possibility of inadvertently revealing the existence of technological vulnerabilities or cybersecurity concerns, and help management to deal with data breaches. The change is also intended to preserve CAI’s oversight functions and powers, particularly for ongoing or future investigations.

    But the CAI will however continue to publish statistical data on the incident reports it receives.

    Quebec privacy experts welcome the new policy. Some felt that the former practice of publishing a list of confidentiality incidents dissuaded organizations from reporting data breaches as they wanted to avoid at all costs being named by the CAI. “In our view, it will certainly increase the number of reports that organizations make” to the CAI, said Nareg Froundjian, a technology lawyer with Fasken’s privacy and cybersecurity group.

    Antoine Guilmain, co-leader, national cybersecurity & data protection group at Gowling WLG, too believes that Quebec is doing the right thing by following in the footsteps of Alberta, which put a halt to the practice in 2024. Any premature publication of information about a confidentiality incident, however limited, can hinder an organization’s crisis management process, encourage the malicious actor to exert pressure, or even further expose those affected, said Guilmain.

    He also points out that there is no specific legal regime that dictates that the CAI must “proactively publish” reports it receives, including those dealing with confidentiality incidents.

  • Quebec legislative agenda raises concerns

    The Quebec government is on a disheartening roll.

    A series of legislative proposals introduced this year by the unpopular provincial government have dismayed First Nations, human rights advocates, labour organizations, legal actors and public figures over the dilution of long-standing rights, many of whom intend to mount legal challenges.

    In fact, it has already begun.

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  • Quebec Superior Court orders amendments to Civil Code to recognize multi-parent families

    In a landmark decision that redefines the legal framework for parenthood in Quebec, Superior Court has given the provincial government 12 months to amend the Civil Code to introduce a new system of filiation that would make it possible to legally recognize more than two parents for the same child.

    The ruling, described by lawyers who successfully pled the case as a “very important for the development” of family law in Quebec, held that the provisions of the Civil Code that limit filiation to two parents is discriminatory and violates the right to equality guaranteed by section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter. Quebec Superior Court Justice Andres Garin found that it is “appropriate” to recognize family status “in the sense of belonging to a particular family model, including a multi-parent family” as an analogous ground of prohibited discrimination enumerated in s. 15(1) of the Canadian Charter – and that such discrimination could not be justified under s. 1 of the Charter. Membership, added Justice Garin, in a particular family model is an immutable personal characteristic.

    “Ultimately, the limit of two parent-child relationships sends the message to multi-parent families and to society in general that only so-called ‘normal’ families, with a maximum of two parents, represent valid family structures worthy of legal recognition,” held Justice Garin in V.M. c. Directeur de l’État civil, 2025 QCCS 1304. “This message reinforces and perpetuates the disadvantage suffered by those who live in a non-traditional family model. Ultimately, the difference in treatment is discriminatory and violates the right to equality guaranteed by s. 15(1) of the Canadian Charter.”

    The Quebec government has announced that it will appeal the decision.

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  • Quebec legislative proposal to create Unified Family Tribunal panned by experts

    In its latest effort to revamp family law, Quebec introduced a bill that lays the groundwork to establish a unified family court to curb delays, simplify proceedings, and handle the majority of family legal proceedings, with an eye towards eventually stripping Superior Court of family matters, an undertaking family law experts have panned as ill-conceived and riddled with shortcomings as it is currently drafted.

    Bill 91, An Act establishing the Unified Family Tribunal within the Court of Québec, also contentiously introduces mandatory mediation for parents in civil or parental unions, judicial conciliation if mediation fails, and summary hearings to be held on the same day if conciliation efforts are unsuccessful.

    But family law pundits are far from impressed by the proposed legislation as it is weighed down by far too many glaring gaps that have yet to be addressed.

    “It’s a bill where not all the strings are attached — that’s the least that can be said about it,” remarked Michel Tétrault, author of several books on Quebec’s family law regime. Marie Annik Walsh, a Montreal family lawyer with Dunton Rainville and former president of the Quebec Association of Family Lawyers, also is disappointed by the legislative proposal, asserting that the Quebec government “did not think through all of the ramifications.” Law professor Valérie Costanzo, a big proponent of unified family law courts, is left wanting as the “unified family court at the moment is in name only.”

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  • High bar for use of biometric systems maintained by Quebec privacy regulator

    Canada’s largest printer was ordered to cease using facial recognition technology to monitor access to its facilities and to destroy all biometric information it previously collected by Quebec’s privacy watchdog in a decision that serves as a stark reminder that there is a high legal threshold for using biometric systems in the province, according to data and privacy experts.

    The use of biometrics in both the private and public sectors is on the upswing in Quebec, with the latest figures from Quebec’s privacy commissioner, the Commission d’accès à l’information (CAI), revealing that 124 entities declared they used biometrics in fiscal 2023-2024, nearly a 60 per cent jump over the previous year. Biometrics, the automated recognition of an individual’s unique body and behavioural characteristics such as fingerprints, facial and voice recognition, and retina scans, is a billion-dollar business, with the global biometrics market estimated at US$50.08 billion in 2024 and expected to surge to more than US $60 billion in 2025, according to Precedence Research. Employers are using it for access control, security, time-keeping, monitoring employee performance or safety, note pundits.

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  • Labour concerned about new bill that curbs and limit strikes

    The Quebec government tabled a bill that gives it sweeping new powers to curb and limit strikes or lockouts by broadening the notion of essential services and granting the labour minister the power to refer labour disputes to an arbitrator, proposals that critics have derided as nothing less than a direct frontal attack on the constitutional protected right to collective bargaining.

    The proposed legislation, lauded by business and decried by the labour movement, will amend Quebec’s Labour Code and introduce a wholly new and untested legal concept in labour relations. It also gives the government the power to adopt a decree to refer a labour conflict to the Administrative Labour Tribunal, and grants the provincial labour minister similar discretionary powers to those used by Ottawa to end work stoppages involving rail, port and postal workers last year.

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  • Quebec new integration plan for immigrants raises concerns

    The Quebec government tabled a “divisive” bill that proposes to integrate immigrants into a “common culture,” shelving a longstanding model of interculturalism and inclusiveness in favour of one that leans on assimilation, marking a shift will likely alienate ethnocultural communities rather than foster and strengthen ties to Quebec society, lament critics.

    Under Bill 84, An Act respecting national integration, Quebecers who are immigrants are expected to learn French, “participate fully” in French in Quebec society, enrich Quebec culture, embrace state secularism and equality between women and men, and adhere to “democratic values and Quebec values” expressed in particular by the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. The proposed legislation, pegged as a framework bill, contentiously stipulates that the provincial government “may determine the forms of financial assistance” that can be granted to legal persons or enterprises financed in part by one or more government agencies. Just as controversially, the bill proposes amendments to the Quebec Charter, notably its preamble and sections 9.1, 43 and 50.

    There is growing backlash against the bill. At least 30 former Quebec ministers and professors signed an open letter in the French-language newspaper Le Devoir chastising the provincial government for adopting an assimilationist or melting pot approach that represents a clear break with the model inherited from the Quiet Revolution. “Affirming the specificities of the Quebec approach is essential if we are to offer a credible and fair alternative to Canadian multiculturalism,” said the opinion piece, which was signed by five former Quebec provincial ministers of all political stripes. “In our view, the CAQuist initiative does not do this. On the contrary, the message it sends to immigrants will be detrimental to the project of a welcoming Quebec society.”

    “There are many things that bother me about Bill 84, above all its non-consensual nature,” said Louis-Philippe Lampron, a law professor and a human rights expert at the Université Laval and one of the signatories of the missive. There is a consensus in Quebec, added Lampron, that the tradition of Canadian multiculturalism, long controversial in the province, does not “fit” the Quebec model of managing diversity.

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Law in Quebec
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