In July 2010, the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), of which
Quebec is a partner, published detailed operational rules for the
cap-and-trade system it wished to adopt. According to these rules,
as a first step, all partner states and provinces wanting to
participate in the WCI North American regional carbon market were
required to adopt regulations to implement a GHG cap-and-trade
system in their respective jurisdictions. Recognition agreements
would then be signed and the required regulatory amendments adopted
so that individual WCI partner systems would be linked to
officially create the regional carbon market.
To meet its commitment to the WCI, the Government of Quebec
published its regulation1 setting out the rules for
operation of a cap-and-trade system under s. 46.5 of the Quebec
Environment Quality Act2 (EQA) on December 14,
2011, in the Gazette Officielle du Québec. Adopted
by the National Assembly in 2009, s. 46.5 of the EQA laid the
foundation for the
