Bill 43, which aimed at reforming Quebec's Mining Act, RSQ, c. M-13.1,  was defeated in the Quebec National Assembly, thus marking the third defeat since 2009 of an attempt to proceed with a long-awaited reform of Quebec's mining law.

In fact, during the session it held on October 30, 2013, the National Assembly was asked to vote on the adoption in principle of Bill 43. In the event that the members of the National Assembly approved the Bill in principle, the Bill would have then moved forward to the subsequent steps in the legislative process, including the committee stage, which allows for the section-by-section examination, and if necessary, amendment, of a bill. However, Bill 43 was defeated at the National Assembly with 57 votes against its adoption, 51 votes in favour and 2 abstentions, and as a consequence, dropped from the Order Paper.  

Since its introduction in May 2013, Bill 43 has been the subject of a considerable amount of commentaries and criticism from interested parties, which include the mining industry, the municipalities and aboriginal communities, all of whom would have been directly affected by the anticipated reform. (Please refer our article entitled " A New Bill to Reform Quebec's Mining Act: Bill 43" for a more detailed analysis of Bill 43.)

The industry and the opposition's criticism with regard to Bill 43 concerned, among other things, the arbitrary power that Bill 43 gave to Quebec's Minister of Natural Resources (the "Minister") to revise a municipality's designation of mining zones. In fact, Bill 43 amended the Act Respecting Land Use Planning and Development, RSQ, c. A-19.1, to allow municipalities to intervene in the delimitation of mining zones on their territories by designating parts of their territory as "mining incompatible" or "conditionally mining compatible" in their land use and development plans. The Minister would then have the right to revise these designations.

Another one of the criticized novelties in Bill 43 was the requirement that any application for a mining lease be accompanied by a feasibility study on ore processing in Québec. Once the study would be submitted, the Minister would have the discretion to require the mine operator to enter an agreement "for the purposes of maximizing economic spinoffs within Québec". Moreover, Bill 43 required that any agreement between a holder of a mining lease and a community be made public, a provision that was strongly opposed by aboriginal communities.

Given its minority status, the Parti Québécois Government required the support of members of the opposition in order for Bill 43 to pass. The Quebec Liberal Party, which constitutes the official opposition at the National Assembly, rendered its approval of Bill 43 conditional to the inclusion of a number of amendments to its content.

The Quebec Liberal Party required, among other things, for the Minister to set aside her right to revise a municipality's designation of mining zones,  to disclose, prior to the adoption in principle of the Bill, the criteria that the municipalities would need to consider in making such designations, and to alleviate the obligation for mine operators to perform a feasibility study on ore processing in Quebec. Nonetheless, the concessions that the Minister was ready to make were not sufficient to ensure the support of the opposition for Bill 43.

The defeat of Bill 43 and the debates preceding it highlight the controversial nature of the novelties introduced by the Bill and the fears expressed with regard to the possible effects of its adoption on the Quebec mining industry. It also means that mine operators in Quebec will continue to be subject to the present Mining Act, which came into force in 1988 and has been amended over the years. It remains to be seen whether Quebec politicians will opt for the legislative status quo in this field or whether they will choose to adopt a new approach towards eventual reform of Quebec's mining law. 

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