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24 Mar 2020

Time 4 minutes

Priority services and activities

Priority services and activities

Following the conference on Monday, March 23rd, the government has announced the closure of all non-essential businesses and services.

As a reminder, this is the list of the public establishments that have been closed since March 15th:

  • Libraries
  • Museums
  • Theaters
  • Concert halls
  • Bars and nightclubs
  • Swimming pools, spas, saunas, aquaparks
  • Recreational areas, including ski resorts, mega parks, trampoline centers;
  • Cinemas and arcades
  • Training centers, gymnasiums, dance halls, spinning, Zumba, yoga
  • Arenas
  • Indoor soccer centers
  • Zoos
  • Aquariums
  • All other installations with a similar vocation.

Here is the government's official list of establishments allowed to remain open during this quarantine period:

Priority health care services

Priority health care services, including:

  • all professions in the health and social services network;
  • emergency pre-hospitalization services (ambulance attendants and dispatchers);
  • private professional resource offices (health network);
  • drugstores;
  • dentists (emergency consultations);
  • optometry (emergency services);
  • intermediate resources and private seniors’ homes;
  • homecare services for seniors, people with disabilities and vulnerable individuals;
  • specialized shelter services (conjugal violence, homelessness, drug addiction, and so on);
  • community based family organisations;
  • 811 and 911 call centre staff;
  • Héma-Québec;
  • Transplant Québec;
  • the Red Cross;
  • the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ);
  • the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ);
  • the production, procurement and distribution of medications, vaccines and pharmaceutical goods and medical equipment, including laboratories and research centres;
  • veterinaries;
  • animal shelters.

Public security services

Public security services, including:

  • police services, including municipal and Sûreté du Québec emergency call dispatching;
  • fire departments;
  • correctional services;
  • special constables;
  • security agencies;
  • the Ministère de la Sécurité publique (civil protection and coroners);
  • forest firefighters and all professionals who support civil protection operations;
  • communications services;
  • enterprises associated with environmental emergencies.

Priority government services

Priority government services:

  • Gouvernement du Québec departments and bodies;
  • childcare workers and emergency childcare service support staff;
  • online higher education;
  • suppliers of goods and services for disadvantage people;
  • food inspection and safety;
  • garbage collection and residual materials management;
  • government air services;
  • suicide prevention centres;
  • assistance services for the victims of conjugal violence;
  • staff that the municipalities deem essential (administration, public works, and so on);
  • food banks;
  • courts of law and administrative tribunals in cases that they deem urgent;
  • legal services.

Maintenance and operation of strategic infrastructure

Maintenance and operation of strategic infrastructure, including:

  • the production, procurement, transmission and distribution of energy (hydroelectricity, fossil energies, wind power, wood pellets);
  • the maintenance in good operating condition of essential public infrastructure such as bridges, municipal buildings, and so on;
  • construction, maintenance and the maintenance of essential activities related to public and private infrastructure that may pose a threat to public health and safety (private dams, the management of hazardous and radioactive materials, and so on);
  • health services and supply chain, for example, a water treatment plant;
  • computer resources (security, maintenance, urgent needs related to the situation);
  • data centres.

Priority manufacturing activities

Priority manufacturing activities, including:

  • food production, such as farming enterprises, food processing, beverages, slaughterhouses, market garden production;
  • the production of inputs necessary for priority sectors;
  • the pulp and paper sector;
  • the manufacture of medical instruments;
  • the manufacture of chemical products;
  • the manufacture of health products;
  • the manufacture of microelectronics components;
  • industrial complexes, especially the aluminum sector, and mining complexes must reduce to a minimum their activities;
  • manufacture and maintenance for the defence sector.

Priority stores

Priority stores, including:

  • grocery stores and other food stores;
  • drugstores;
  • convenience stores;
  • megastores outside shopping centres that offer grocery, drugstore or hardware services;
  • products for farms such as mechanical equipment, fertilizer and so on;
  • the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) and the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC);
  • funeral homes, crematoria and cemeteries;
  • restaurants (takeout counters or delivery only);
  • hotels;
  • drycleaners and laundromats;
  • medical and orthopaedic supply stores;
  • pet food and supplies stores;
  • movers;
  • work equipment (safety and protection).

Media and telecommunications

Media and telecommunications:

  • telecommunications (network and equipment);
  • cable operators;
  • printers (solely for printing newspapers);
  • national media;
  • local media.

Banking and financial services

Banking and financial services, including:

  • financial services (financial institutions, ATMs and other payment methods);
  • insurance services (telephone service);
  • payroll services;
  • accounting services;
  • services related to financial markets;
  • services related to financial markets and stock markets.

Construction sector

Construction sector:

  • construction firms for emergency dispatching or security purposes;
  • electricians, plumbers and other trades for emergency services;
  • rental equipment.

Building maintenance services

Building maintenance services, including:

  • janitorial work;
  • building-maintenance firms (elevators, ventilation, alarms, and so on).

Priority transportation and logistics services

Priority transportation and logistics services:

  • mass transit and passenger transportation;
  • ports and airports;
  • locomotive and aircraft maintenance services and essential aeronautical services (air transport);
  • procurement and distribution of foodstuffs, grocery stores and convenience stores;
  • transportation, warehousing and distribution of essential goods;
  • snow removal and maintenance of functional road links;
  • service stations and mechanical repair of motor vehicles, trucks and specialized equipment for industries deemed essential and roadside assitance;
  • taxis, paratransit;
  • postal services, message handling and parcel delivery.

If your company is not on this list but you consider its activity essential, you can report it by filling out this form: Information form.