Quebec City put on notice for its regulations on wood heating

Four citizens put Quebec City on notice Monday to repeal its regulations on wood heating. They believe that their scope is exaggerated and that they infringe on the “right to energy”.

In 2021, the City of Quebec adopted a regulation prohibiting the use of uncertified wood stoves on its territory. Last year, it went further by outright banning decorative or ambient wood-burning fireplaces from September 1, 2030.

The City specified last year that this tightening of regulations was based in particular on the findings of the independent working group on air quality and those of the My environment my health study.

However, this regulation is considered greatly exaggerated by the lawyer leading the case, Samuel Samson.

This objective of maintaining good air quality could have been achieved simply by targeting a suspension of the use of solid fuel appliances on days when air quality is poor in Quebec. he declared in an interview.

The concept of “right to energy”

The citizens behind the formal notice demand that the City of Quebec modify its regulations by February 15.

Without change, we are going to go to court, we are going to go to the Superior Court to have this regulation declared inoperative on the basis of the right to energy warns Samuel Samson.

Its objective: to create a precedent in terms of right to energy . This emerging concept is not recognized in Canadian law, but it is attracting increasing attention internationally.

Its defenders consider access to energy as a need and a fundamental right that States are required to protect.

According to Samuel Samson, the regulations of the City of Quebec would hinder the right of people to access energy, the ability of people to self-satisfy their needs, then freedom [de prendre] ways to achieve this .

In 2023, Health Canada data revealed that fine particles from wood heating kill 1,400 people per year in Quebec. This is three times more than the number of deaths attributable to road accidents.