Guilbault delays Quebec’s new backyard pool safety rules, including stricter fencing standards, by one year

After months of complaints from Quebecers, Minister of Municipal Affairs Geneviève Guilbault has announced a one-year delay for backyard pool owners to comply with the new residential safety regulations in Quebec.

The new regulations include stricter fencing standards – obliging homeowners to have an enclosed fence built around their pools – mandatory automatic gates, and a $500 fine for violations.

“Since the announcement this morning, some of them, well, are a little happier,” said Simard. They think that this will be pushed ahead, and next year it might be pushed again, and they’re like just, you know, hoping that this will never happen.”

“Even before I became Minister of Municipal Affairs, many citizens and municipal officials expressed to me their confusion, irritation, and exasperation regarding the rigidity of the standards applicable to the Residential Pool Safety Regulation,” said Guilbault in a statement to CityNews.

Adding that she’s abandoning the original deadline of Sept. 30, 2025 and will table legislation this fall that will delay any fines for one year after the law comes into affect.

“The obligation to comply by Sept. 30, 2025, less than two weeks away, is also impossible for many of them,” she explained.

“I have therefore made this file my top priority, so that I can quickly confirm a postponement before the deadline. Given my very recent arrival at Municipal Affairs, I will take the time to present my solutions to municipal representatives,” she added. “The goal: to be pragmatic and show common sense.”

For companies who specialize in child safe pool fencing, like subcontractor for Enfant Sécure, Ian Simard, this year has been the busiest as homeowners scrambled to meet the mandatory deadline coming up in less than two weeks.

“I’ve had to work two or three times as much as usual,” he exclaimed.

But Simard attests that things have begun to shift as calls to his company changed from booking appointments to cancelling them.

“This morning I’ve had like three, four cancellations for the the installations that I’m supposed to do in the coming month, and I’m sure they’re going to be more in the coming weeks,” he said.

But experts warn that the risk of accidental drownings in pools is all too real, as 15 to 16 per cent of drownings this summer occurred in backyard pools.

“We hope next summer will there be no drowning situations, especially with the toddlers without the supervision of their parents — and we know this is one of the big risk factors we have,” said Raynald Hawkins, executive director for the Lifesaving Society.

Hawkins says that for every toddler who loses their life in a pool, 10 more must be taken to the hospital for non-fatal drownings.

“We can understand some owners of backyard pools have some specific realities, so we can make some adaptations for sure, but we need to follow the principle that backyard pools cannot be accessible from the house and the neighbor,” insists Hawkins.

A recent drowning report from the Lifesaving Society indicates that 70 per cent of drownings occurred between the months of May and September this year. Which is why Hawkins says they hope that Minister Guilbault and the Travaux de l’Assemblée National du Québec (ANQ) can at least postpone the mandatory safety regulations to June 2026, before peak summer season where many Quebecers are finding themselves in the water.

“That means next summer will be safer than next fall,” added Hawkins.