Even if the 2025 Nids-de-Poule season is not completed in Quebec City, the number of complaints for material damage has already reached a record level compared to the last three years.
This is at least what can be read in a response to a request for access to information made public Thursday morning.
Dated April 14, the number of complaints of this type has already reached 347 in Quebec, for 2025, practically the triple that last year and double compared to 2023 (see table).
Tables made public by Quebec City following a request for access to information
“The season was very hasty this year. This means that complaints were too, “said François Moisan, city spokesperson.
For complaints in bodily injury, Quebec City has counted around fifty, on average, per year, between 2022 and 2024.
For the 2025 season, which is underway, there have been only four complaints yet.
Almost no payments
general rule, the contrast is enormous between the amounts claimed by the complainants and the amounts paid by Quebec City.
For material damage, reimbursement is between 3% and 5% of the amounts claimed. Regarding corporal damage, this rate drops to approximately 1%.
For 2022 for example, reimbursement for bodily injury was a meager $ 2,000 even if complaints totaled $ 221,000.
According to Mr. Moisan, this is mainly explained by the general legal exemption from which cities benefit in this matter.
The Quebec Municipal Code stipulates that “the municipality is not responsible for the damage caused by the presence of an object on the road or on a pedestrian or cycle route. Nor is it responsible for the damage caused by the condition of the road or the cycle route to the tires or the suspension system of a vehicle ”.
According to the website of the Lambert Avocats specialized lawyer’s office, “this is a presumption provided by law and it is up to the applicant to prove the gross or intentional fault on the part of the city, engaging his responsibility”.
In MTQ
The portrait differs from the Ministry of Transport, while complaints are rather down.
They went from 1229 requests in 2022 to 675 for the year 2024. To date for 2025, 463 complaints have been made.
The government has paid compensation in 87 files in 2022, for an amount of more than $ 82,000.
In 2024, 45 complaints were paid, for an amount of almost $ 31,000.
The sums spent for the current year are not known.
– With the collaboration of Catherine Bouchard
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