The Quebec Government yesterday introduced a bill (Bill 18 — An Act respecting the Compilation of Québec Laws and Regulations) to give official status to the electronic version of Quebec’s statutes. Bill 18 in the National Assembly. The electronic compilatiion will have official status upon the coming-into-force of the act. The bill further specifies that “Within 24 months following that date, the Minister is to review the administrative version of all regulations, published on that website, with a view to identifying those which, in the Minister’s opinion, are of such a nature as to justify their inclusion in the compilation, and to carrying out any updating and consolidation activities the Minister judges appropriate. All regulations published on that website on (insert the date occurring 24 months after the date of coming into force of this Act) have official status as of that date; the Minister may, however, before that date, indicate upon the publication of certain regulations that they have been revised and that they have official status as of the date of that publication.” The Bill also simplifies procedures for updating and consolidating Quebec laws and regulations.
As of November 30, 2008, electronic copies of Ontario statutes and regulations on the e-Laws website are considered official copies of the law in that province.
Also see the Quebec government press release.