Bill 104 bundles a variety of municipal-law amendments intended to respond to requests from the municipal sector. Key changes let larger municipal councils create an executive committee with limited delegated powers; require every municipality to appoint at least one municipal officer responsible for buildings, the environment and urban planning; and tighten the timing for giving council members the documents they need to decide.
The bill also alters land-use and taxation mechanics: it narrows circumstances in which a zoning standard change triggers a referendum, allows municipalities by by-law to accept a signed commitment (with prescribed guarantees) in lieu of immediate payment of a contribution tied to permits, and clarifies procedures for establishing property‑tax sectors and preliminary assessment rolls. The package includes governance tweaks to the Commission municipale, the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal and the Ville de Québec’s heritage body, plus several technical repeals and transitional rules.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill lets municipal councils of 12 or more members adopt, by two‑thirds vote, an executive committee (mayor plus 3–5 councillors) that prepares by‑laws, budgets and other materials and may exercise delegated powers except for a short list of non‑delegable items (for example, adopting a budget or certain land‑use documents). It requires each municipality to appoint at least one municipal officer for buildings, the environment and urban planning and mandates that decision‑useful documents be available to councillors when a special sitting notice is given.
Who It Affects
Municipalities with councils of 12+ councillors, municipal administrations and officers, developers and applicants for municipal permits or certificates, taxpayers in areas subject to sector-based property taxation, the Commission municipale, the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal and Québec City’s heritage commission.
Why It Matters
The changes reallocate routine preparatory work from full councils to smaller executive committees, create a statutory minimum professional role for planning/building/environment supervision, and open a pathway for municipalities to grant permits before collecting certain contributions, shifting financial and administrative risk. Together these adjustments change municipal decision workflows, fiscal practices and regional governance representation.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill rewrites multiple municipal statutes rather than creating a single new regime. For larger municipalities (those with councils of 12 or more), it authorizes the council to create an executive committee by by-law adopted with a two‑thirds majority.
The committee is chaired by the mayor and is made up of three to five councillors the mayor designates. Its core work is to prepare draft by‑laws, the annual budget and various reports for council and to exercise powers the council delegates to it, but the law spells out a short list of powers that the committee may never be delegated (for example, adopting a budget or certain land‑use documents).
The committee may sit privately unless it decides otherwise and may permit remote participation that allows real‑time audio‑visual interaction.
Parallel to that change, the bill imposes a new staffing floor: every municipal council must appoint at least one municipal officer responsible for buildings, the environment and urban planning. That officer can be entrusted with responsibilities by the council — including issuing authorizations required under municipal by‑laws or regulations — and assistant officers have the same powers.
The bill also tightens councillor access to materials by requiring that any documents useful for decision‑making be made available at the moment a notice convening a special sitting is notified to members.On land use and taxation, the bill alters the rules on density‑increasing zoning amendments near shared‑transport access points so that such provisions are not subject to referendum approval regardless of the amount of standard variation. It also creates a by‑law mechanism allowing municipalities to accept a written commitment and financial guarantees from an applicant so the municipality can issue a permit or certificate before the applicant actually pays the contribution that finances work or municipal services.
Separately, municipalities that plan to create or change a property‑tax sector must adopt a pre‑deposit resolution (and may request a preliminary roll), and once a roll is deposited the establishing resolution generally may not be amended for that roll’s fiscal years.The bill contains targeted governance changes: it removes the Commission municipale’s statutory obligation to have a secretary, reduces the number of municipal representatives from the Montréal urban agglomeration on the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, and allows Québec City’s council to delegate certain heritage powers to its Commission d’urbanisme et de conservation. It also repeals certain local acts and order‑in‑council provisions and sets phased coming‑into‑force dates for various sections, including fixed calendar dates for several amendments.
The Five Things You Need to Know
A council of 12 or more councillors may create an executive committee by by‑law adopted with a two‑thirds majority; the committee must be chaired by the mayor and include 3–5 councillors the mayor designates (section 70.1–70.2).
Section 70.3 lists non‑delegable powers the executive committee cannot receive, including adopting the budget, adopting certain land‑use and electoral documents, adopting heritage identification by‑laws, appointing council‑only positions, and managing senior personnel and the municipality’s administrative services.
Municipalities may, by by‑law, permit applicants to substitute a signed commitment and prescribed financial guarantees for immediate payment of a contribution financing municipal work or services; the by‑law must set payment terms, required guarantees, interest and penalties (amendment to section 145.22 and A‑19.1 insertion).
Every municipal council must appoint at least one municipal officer for buildings, the environment and urban planning; assistant officers have equal powers and may automatically replace a vacant officer (new provisions in Cities and Towns Act and Municipal Code).
Several provisions become effective on fixed calendar dates: sections 20–22 on 2 November 2025, section 31 on 31 December 2025, sections 24–25 and 27–28 and 39 on 1 January 2026, and sections 7 and 11 one year after assent (transition clauses in the bill).
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Referendum exemption and contribution‑by‑commitment framework
The bill narrows how subsection 123.1 treats amendments that increase land occupation density near shared‑transport access points: it removes certain textual limits and adds a four‑year rule preventing repeated rapid changes to the same standard. It also inserts a mechanism allowing a municipality’s by‑law to accept an applicant’s commitment and prescribed financial guarantees in place of immediate payment for contributions tied to permits or certificates; that by‑law must set payment terms, required guarantees, interest and penalties. Practically, the result is twofold: density increases near rail or dedicated transit nodes can proceed without referendum barriers in many cases, and municipalities gain an explicit legal route to issue permits ahead of collecting contributions — subject to by‑law design.
Creates a statutory executive committee model and mandatory municipal officer role
The Act now authorizes councils of 12+ councillors to establish an executive committee (mayor plus 3–5 councillors) to prepare by‑laws, budgets and reports and to exercise delegated powers, but it expressly lists certain powers that cannot be delegated. The committee’s procedural rules—quorum, voting, remote participation, closed sittings, and internal management by by‑law—are set out in the new subdivision. Separately, the Act requires a council to appoint at least one municipal officer for buildings/environment/urban planning; the officer (and any assistant) may hold other statutorily listed municipal offices and can be empowered to issue authorizations under municipal regulations or by‑laws.
Access to decision materials and parallel officer requirement in the Municipal Code
The Municipal Code is updated to require that any documents useful to decision‑making be available to council members when a notice convening a special sitting is given—not later—tightening the timeline for access. The Code also mirrors the Cities and Towns Act by inserting a chapter that mandates appointment of municipal officers for buildings/environment/urban planning and authorizes assistant officers and dual office‑holding. This creates a consistent staffing floor across different municipal statutes.
Pre‑deposit resolution, preliminary roll and treatment of sectors
The Act requires that, before a roll is deposited, the municipality adopt a resolution expressing its intention to establish or modify a tax sector and permits municipalities to request a preliminary roll. It also tightens the rule that a resolution must be adopted before the roll is deposited and prevents amendment or repeal of the resolution once the roll is deposited for the fiscal years covered by that roll. These changes introduce a firmer sequencing requirement between council intent and the assessment roll process.
Removes secretary requirement and adjusts metropolitan representation
The bill ends the Commission municipale’s statutory obligation to have a secretary by striking references to that office across multiple provisions, and repeals certain sections concerning Commission procedures. It also reduces the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal’s total municipal representation and the number of representatives from the Montréal urban agglomeration, and clarifies membership composition rules. Those adjustments change internal staffing expectations at the provincial oversight body and rebalance seats on the metropolitan council.
Allows Québec City to delegate heritage powers to its urban‑planning commission
The Cultural Heritage Act is amended to allow Québec City’s council to delegate all or part of the powers in sections 137–142 to the Commission d’urbanisme et de conservation de Québec. When delegated, two procedural paragraphs in sections 139 and 141 no longer apply. The change streamlines decision‑making over heritage immovables and sites within Québec City by enabling an existing local body to exercise specific powers formerly retained by council.
Repeals and staged coming‑into‑force provisions
The Act repeals the separate Act respecting Ville de Blainville and numerous order‑in‑council provisions tied to individual municipalities. It continues existing executive committees in certain named municipalities as if they had been established under the new rules so members remain in office until formally replaced. The bill sets staggered effective dates for different provisions (some linked to other Acts’ coming into force, others to calendar dates and specified intervals after assent), which creates an implementation schedule municipalities must track.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Councils of larger municipalities (12+ councillors): they gain a statutory mechanism to delegate preparatory and administrative work to a smaller executive committee, reducing the time full council spends on operational items and centralizing agenda preparation.
- Permit applicants and developers: where a municipality enacts the new by‑law option, applicants can obtain permits or certificates before paying a contribution if they provide the prescribed commitment and financial guarantees, speeding project starts.
- Municipal administrations seeking modernization: the mandatory municipal officer role creates a clear accountability node for building, environment and planning matters, which can improve regulatory consistency across approvals and enforcement.
- Québec City’s heritage administration: delegation to the Commission d’urbanisme et de conservation lets the city assign technical heritage decisions to a specialized body, potentially accelerating heritage review and relieving council workload.
- Multi‑purpose road stewards and regions with forest roads: municipalities receive explicit authority to grant assistance for maintenance of multi‑purpose roads, opening a funding/assistance pathway for shared infrastructure.
Who Bears the Cost
- Municipal taxpayers and ratepayers: permitting issuance of permits before collection of contributions transfers short‑term cash‑flow and enforcement risk to municipalities, which may need to accept guarantees or pursue collection actions if applicants default.
- Smaller municipalities and clerks: the new document‑access timing, officer appointment obligations and by‑law drafting (for permit‑commitment frameworks) increase immediate administrative duties and may require hiring or reassigning staff.
- Commission municipale institutional functions: removing the statutory secretary and repealing sections may reduce institutional capacity or require reallocation of administrative tasks, with potential short‑term transition costs.
- Municipalities represented in the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal’s urban agglomeration: a reduced number of seats lowers those municipalities’ direct representation at the metropolitan level, potentially diminishing their influence over regional decisions.
- Municipal treasurers and legal teams: implementing the new preliminary roll and sector‑resolution sequencing and designing compliant financial‑guarantee mechanisms will demand legal and financial work to draft by‑laws and ensure enforceability.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill balances two legitimate aims—streamlining municipal decision‑making and reducing administrative burden versus preserving transparency, representative participation and municipal fiscal prudence—but it shifts discretion to councils and municipal by‑laws; the core dilemma is whether local governments will adopt the new tools with sufficient safeguards to protect democratic accountability and financial security.
The bill is designed to speed municipal operations and reduce administrative burden, but it builds new responsibility and risk onto municipalities. Allowing permits before contribution payment requires municipalities to design robust by‑laws prescribing acceptable guarantees, interest and penalties and to develop collection and enforcement capacity; without conservative by‑law settings or effective guarantees, municipalities face collection risk and potential budgetary pressure.
The legislation leaves significant by‑law detail to local councils, so outcomes will vary widely across municipalities depending on legal capacity and fiscal prudence.
Delegation to executive committees raises accountability questions. The law lists non‑delegable powers but still permits broad delegation of routine governance functions; how councils use that authority will determine whether delegation improves governance or simply concentrates power in a small group with reduced transparency.
The provision allowing closed sittings for executive committees and permitting remote participation is operationally convenient but requires clear local rules to preserve public access and recordkeeping. Likewise, removing the statutory secretary from the Commission municipale eliminates a formal administrative post; implementation will demand careful task reassignment to avoid gaps in institutional memory and process oversight.
Finally, the referendum exemption for density increases near shared‑transport points takes a specific planning objective off the local referendum table, which speeds rezoning in targeted areas but may provoke public‑engagement and legitimacy concerns in affected neighbourhoods.
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