Québec-Canada Agreement: Toward A Single Environmental Assessment For Major Projects

On July 20, 2026, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) published the Draft Agreement Between Québec and Canada Concerning the Environment Quality Act and the Impact Assessment Act Within Québec’s Territory.¹ Announced jointly by the Honourable Joël Lightbound, federal Minister of Government Transformation and Lieutenant for Québec, and the Honourable Pascale Déry, Québec Minister of the Environment, the draft agreement establishes the principle of “one project, one assessment, one decision.” If finalized, the agreement would make Québec the eighth province to enter into a cooperation agreement with the federal government on environmental assessments, following British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Alberta and Manitoba.² It is intended to implement the principles of cooperative federalism in the context of environmental assessments, while respecting the constitutional division of powers between Québec and Canada.

Key changes for Québec³

For projects located in Québec that are neither federal works nor situated on federal lands, only the impact assessment and review process established under Title I of the Environment Quality Act (EQA) would apply. Under the proposed framework, Canada would rely on the Québec environmental assessment process to address adverse effects falling within federal jurisdiction. As a result, a separate federal impact assessment would no longer be required for these projects.

However, the proposed mechanism is subject to important limitations. First, the territories covered by the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement and the Northeastern Québec Agreement are excluded from the scope of the draft agreement. The specific environmental assessment processes established under Title II of the EQA would therefore continue to apply in those areas. Second, the agreement would apply only to the environmental assessment stage. Other permits, authorizations and approvals required for a project, whether issued by the federal or Québec governments, would continue to be subject to the applicable processes and requirements of each level of government. Finally, the draft agreement expressly preserves Québec’s rights and remedies, including the ability to challenge the validity or application of the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) before the courts.

The Crown’s duty to consult and, where appropriate, accommodate Indigenous peoples would also remain fully applicable, regardless of which level of government is responsible for conducting the environmental assessment. The proposed agreement does not modify or limit existing constitutional consultation obligations toward Indigenous communities.

An approach that differs from other provincial agreements

The approach proposed for Québec differs from those adopted in New Brunswick and British Columbia, where agreements rely on a formal substitution mechanism under the IAA. Under that framework, the substitution of a provincial process requires a specific application and federal approval on a project-by-project basis. By contrast, the Québec agreement does not provide for such a substitution mechanism. Instead, Canada would automatically rely on the environmental assessment and review process established under the EQA, which has been in place since 1978 and is administered by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE), for all non-federal projects falling within the scope of the agreement. No separate substitution request would therefore be required.⁴

The draft agreement is nevertheless silent on the treatment of projects for which a federal assessment process is already underway when the agreement comes into force. It provides a continuity rule only in the event of a future termination of the agreement, specifying that the agreement would continue to apply to assessments initiated before the termination date.⁵ By comparison, the agreement concluded with British Columbia expressly addresses this scenario by providing that the parties would collaborate on the assessment of projects already underway before the agreement’s entry into force, in accordance with the principles and objectives of the agreement.⁶ As a result, proponents with pending projects before the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) may wish to raise this issue with the authorities during the consultation period or closely monitor the final version of the agreement to determine how transitional matters will ultimately be addressed.

Interaction with existing Québec law

The draft agreement forms part of a broader legislative context in Québec that is already evolving. The regime established under Title I of the EQA, on which the draft agreement is based, has been in force since 1978 and relies on the BAPE as the cornerstone of Québec’s public environmental assessment process.⁷ In parallel, Bill 5, An Act to accelerate the granting of the authorizations required to carry out priority national-scale projects, introduced on December 9, 2025, and still under consideration (having been reintroduced during the 43rd Legislature, 3rd Session, on May 6, 2026), proposes to streamline the provincial authorization process for certain designated projects. Among other measures, the bill would eliminate the public information stage of the BAPE process for these projects.⁸ These two initiatives are complementary in nature. The draft agreement would eliminate the need for a separate federal impact assessment process, while Bill 5 would accelerate the Québec authorization process for certain priority projects. Together, these measures could provide project proponents with a more integrated approval pathway, shorter timelines and greater predictability in the development of major projects.

Key takeaways and next steps

The draft agreement is currently subject to public consultation, which is open from July 20 to August 10, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time). Comments may be submitted through the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada’s “Let’s Talk Impact Assessment” website and will be considered in the preparation of the final version of the agreement. Financial assistance is available to support the participation of Indigenous communities in the consultation process.⁹ Companies involved in major projects in Québec should begin assessing how the proposed agreement may affect their permitting strategies and project timelines. They may also wish to participate in the consultation process to provide feedback on implementation issues, including the treatment of ongoing assessments and transitional arrangements.

For more information on this topic, please contact the authors, Mira Gauvin (partner) or Anoosh Loertscher (senior associate), both in our Montréal office.

The authors would like to thank Laurence Thériault, a law student in the Montréal office, for her valuable contribution to the drafting of this article.

Footnotes

1. Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, “Canada announces a draft agreement with Quebec to accelerate the construction of major projects in Quebec,” press release, July 20, 2026. ↩

2. Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, “Agreements related to assessments.” ↩

3. Draft Agreement Between Québec and Canada Concerning the Environment Quality Act and the Impact Assessment Act Within Québec’s Territory, sections 2, 3, 4, 7(6), and 8 [Draft Agreement]; Impact Assessment Act, S.C. 2019, c. 28, s. 1, para. 16(2), subpara. 16(2)(f.1). ↩

4. Supra note 3, Draft Agreement, Art. 3(2); Environment Quality Act, RLRQ c Q-2, titre I [EQA]. ↩

5. Ibid., Draft Agreement, Art. 13(2)-(3). ↩

6. Impact Assessment Cooperation Agreement Between Canada and British Columbia, Art. 17(2). ↩

7. Supra note 4, EQA. ↩

8. Bill 5, An Act to accelerate the granting of the authorizations required to carry out priority national-scale projects, 43rd Legislature, 3rd Session, Québec, 2026 (introduced on December 9, 2025). ↩

9. Supra note 1. ↩