On November 21, Quebec’s Chief Electoral Officer Jean-François Blanchet submitted to the province’s National Assembly a report of recommendations containing 30 proposals for improvements to the Election Act.

The stated goal of the report, entitled “For a New Vision of the Election Law,” is to strengthen the province’s election law’s fundamental principles: transparency, fairness, and integrity.

Notably, the report recommends fixed by-elections dates.

Among the other recommendations of Elections Quebec are requiring political parties to account for their pre-election expenses, extending this reporting requirement to any organization or person not acting on behalf of a candidate or a party, and banning government advertising and announcements as an election is approached.

The report contends the current guidelines limiting government communications in the run-up to an election need clarification to ensure more fairness between political parties from one election to the next.

Additionally, the report proposes requiring digital platforms to keep a register of the paid election and political ads they broadcast, similar to requirements in effect during federal elections.

Q: I need to register as a lobbyist in Quebec for my company. What steps do we need to complete in the new system?

A: The Lobbyist Registry in Quebec has been replaced by Carrefour Lobby Quebec.  Previously, the senior officer was responsible for creating an account, and would list any individual lobbyists or administrators on the company’s account.  With the new system using Carrefour Lobby Quebec, the senior officer and each lobbyist must create an individual account, referred to as a professional space.  A professional space can then be linked to an organization’s account, referred to as a collective space.

To create a personal space, you first need to create your account with Carrefour Lobby Quebec.  After creating your account, you must verify it.  You can use the Verified.Me platform, which requires you to login to your financial institution.  This is the easiest method to use.  In the alternative, you can use an ID verification form managed by Lobbyisme Quebec.  With this option, you will be required to upload photo identification such a driver’s license along with a recent financial statement verifying your current address.  Once authenticated, you will have access to your professional space.

The collective space for an organization can be opened by the senior officer, an employee, or even a third party.  Once the collective space has been opened, all individuals with an authenticated professional space can request access to the collective space.  The senior officer must approve or validate these requests.  All mandates can then be published to the collective space by the senior officer, a lobbyist, or an administrator who has been granted access by the senior officer.

The information from this response can easily be found on our website in the Lobbying Compliance section of the Canada Compliance Laws publication.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions.

On March 13, a provincial byelection will be held in the electoral division of Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne for the Quebec National Assembly.

The election will be held to fill the vacant seat of former Member of the National Assembly Dominique Anglade, the former leader of the Quebec Liberal Party .

Anglade resigned on December 1 of last year.

The byelection was announced by Premier François Legault on February 6.

On January 16, 2023, Jean-François Blanchet will become Quebec’s new Chief Electoral Officer and Chair of the Commission de la représentation électorale. Quebec’s National Assembly appointed Blanchet on December 9.

He will replace Pierre Reid, who has served in both of those roles since 2015. Reid, who served one seven-year term, had wanted to be reappointed, but was not chosen again for the positions.

An appointment to the Commission requires the agreement of two thirds of the members of Quebec’s National Assembly.

The Commission de la représentation électorale draws up the electoral map of Québec, municipalities, and English-language school boards. Blanchet is currently the Director of Electoral Operations and Assistant to the Chief Electoral Officer and has worked for Élections Québec since 1989.

Question:  I am the Senior Officer in Quebec for my company.  I have been receiving emails concerning a new website.  What do I need to know?

Answer:  Lobbying to design and administer a new platform to replace the current Registry of Lobbyists.  This new platform is called Carrefour Lobby Quebec.  Carrefour Lobby Quebec aims to be a modernization and update of the current registry.

On June 21, 2022, the first phase of Carrefour Lobby Quebec was deployed.  Senior officers of companies and organizations carrying out lobbying activities were invited to create their individual accounts in the new system, along with the corresponding account for their company or organization.  Authorized representatives and consultant lobbyists were also permitted to proceed with account creation in Carrefour Lobby Quebec.  Users can gain additional information on Carrefour Lobby Québec by viewing an introductory video. They can also review the methods of administration of the new system.

The second and final phase of the deployment will take place this fall.  The Commissioner of Lobbying recommended, as provided for in Bill 13, a decree be adopted fixing the final deployment of Carrefour Lobby Quebec for October 13, 2022.  The functionalities for entering lobbying activities will then be operational in the new system.   On October 13, 2022, the current Registry of Lobbyists will be officially closed and all information in the current registry will be transferred to Carrefour Lobby Quebec.  There will then be a 60-day validation period for all transferred information.

More information will be provided by the Commissioner of Lobbying as the deployment of the second phase approaches.  Until the new system is online, lobbying activities must be entered into the current registry.

The information from this response can easily be found on our website in the Lobbying Compliance section of the Canada Compliance Laws publication.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions.

On June 21, Jean-François Routhier, the Commissioner of Lobbying with Lobbyisme Québec, officially deployed the first phase of Carrefour Lobby Quebec, the new online disclosure regime of lobbying activities for the province.

The current registry of lobbyists will be replaced by Carrefour Lobby Québec, which will be administered by Lobbyisme Québec. The official and complete launch of Carrefour Lobby Québec is anticipated to take place in the fall of 2022. At that time, the current lobbyists’ registry will close.

Beginning June 21, the most senior executives of companies and organizations carrying out lobbying activities and their authorized representatives, as well as consultant lobbyists, will begin to be invited to proceed with the creation of their individual account and their businesses or organizations on the new website. Lobbyisme Québec plans to help support registered lobbyists efficiently transition to the new website during the second and final phase of the platform’s deployment.

According to the Office of Lobbyisme’s press release, the Lobbyists Commissioner has recommended that the government, as provided for in Bill 13, adopt the decree setting the entry into force of the new platform on October 13, 2022.

In the works since the summer of 2019, the updated web platform aims to replace the “technological obsolescence” of the current site with a modern system, to improve the user experience, and to be in line with Quebec’s 2019-2023 digital transformation strategy.

The year 2021 will likely bring major changes to the Quebec Lobbyists Registry online lobbying activity disclosure platform.

In the works since the summer of 2019, the updated web platform aims to replace the “technological obsolescence” of the current site with a modern system, to improve the user experience, and to be in line with Quebec’s 2019-2023 digital transformation strategy, according to Lobbyists Commissioner Jean-Francois Routhier.

“The modernization of the lobbyists registry is without a doubt one of the biggest projects of our institution since its creation in 2002,” Routhier stated in his December 2020 newsletter.

A user committee made up of lobbyists, public office holders, journalists, and citizens has been testing a model of the new website to validate its user-friendliness and processes.

The commissioner has emphasized that the new website’s intuitive design, simplified process for registration, and increased capacity of searching for relevant information, are of interest to both lobbyists and the public.

Routhier says the new platform will replace the current Lobbyists Registry platform at the end of 2021.

On April 17, the Quebec National Assembly extended its adjournment until May 5 because of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Assembly had agreed on March 17 to adjourn parliamentary business until April 21.

At the time, the leaders of the four parliamentary groups left open the option to recommend to the President of the National Assembly to extend the adjournment beyond April 21.

Lawmakers plan to hold four virtual committee sessions.

These will allow MPs and members of the opposition groups to exchange views with members of the executive.

These committee sessions will be held between April 24 and May 1.

On March 17, the National Assembly of Quebec agreed to adjourn parliamentary business until Tuesday, April 21, 2020, at 1:40 p.m.

The adjournment is in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

If required, the leaders of the four parliamentary groups will recommend to the President of the National Assembly to extend the adjournment beyond April 21.

On December 2, a provincial by-election will be held in the Capitale-Nationale riding of Jean-Talon for the Quebec National Assembly.

The election will be held to fill the vacant seat of former Member of the National Assembly Sébastien Proulx, who resigned in August to return to private life.

The election was announced by Premier François Legault on October 27

On February 14, a bill was introduced in the National Assembly of Quebec to allow the Lobbyists Commissioner to maintain the registry of lobbyists.

Currently, paperwork filed by lobbyists is processed with the Ministry of Justice. Bill 6 amends the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act in order to transfer responsibility for keeping the registry of lobbyists to the Lobbyists Commissioner.

The bill also creates a three-year statute of limitations for the prosecution of lobbying violations, starting from the time a prosecutor becomes aware of a violation. A prosecution would be prohibited if the commission of the offense occurred more than seven years earlier.

Sometime before January 30, 2019, a by-election will be announced for the seat in the House of Commons representing Outremont in the province of Quebec.

On August 3, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, received official notice from the Speaker of the House of Commons that the seat for Outremont (Quebec) became vacant following the resignation of Tom Mulcair, who left office to teach at the at Universite de Montreal and to become a regularly scheduled political commentator at CJAD radio and CTV news.

Under the law, the by-election date must be announced between August 14, 2018, and January 30, 2019, and will signal the start of the by-election period. According to Elections Canada, the earliest date the by-election can be held is September 24, 2018.

On May 13, Elections Canada announced a federal by-election will be held on June 18 in the electoral district of Chicoutimi–Le Fjord (Quebec) to fill a vacancy in the House of Commons.

MP Denis Lemieux had announced his resignation in November of last year with an effective date of December 1.

Lemieux had cited family reasons for leaving office. He had been in the office since 2015.

A bill was introduced in the National Assembly of Quebec to amend the legislature’s ethics law. The amendments to the Code of Ethics and Conduct of the Members of the National Assembly (MNA) (chapter C-23.1) would provide an Ethics Commissioner inquiry report be produced within 90 days of the date on which an inquiry began, with allowances for extensions.

The bill also entitles a lawmaker who is the subject of an inquiry report to request a review committee be established to examine the report before it is tabled in the National Assembly. The review committee, which would be composed of three persons and chaired by a Court of Appeal judge designated by that court’s chief judge, could approve or revise the inquiry report.

The private bill, which was introduced on March 21 by MNA Claude Surprenant, an Independent representing the provincial electoral district of Groulx in the Laurentides region of Quebec, also mandates the committee must hear from both the investigated member and from the ethics commissioner. The bill also establishes the procedure for tabling the review report in the National Assembly.