Quebec extends pool fence deadline to 2027

A stock image of a pool. (Alexander F Ungerer/pexels.com)

The Quebec government has confirmed it is extending its pool fence deadline to September 2027.

The original deadline was Sept. 30, 2025

This comes after mixed reactions to the regulations, with some pool owners claiming confusion and lamenting that installation prices have gone up, while hospitals and lifesaving experts argue that delays endanger the lives of children and seniors.

According to the Montreal Children’s Hospital, physicians treat at least one case of drowning or near drowning a week during the summer, the majority of which involve children under the age of five.

“We want to prevent this. These are tragic. These are devastating,” said Debbie Friedman, trauma director of the Montreal Children’s Hospital. “They destroy the lives of families, communities, and many of these children do not survive their injury, and if they do, they’re left with profound deficits.”

• READ MORE: Quebec pool safety deadline delay means ‘devastating’ consequences for children: trauma expert

Wednesday, Municipal Affairs Minister Geneviève Guilbault said the extension was to give pool owners more time to find a contractor to do the work.

However, Raynald Hawkins, the head of Quebec’s Lifesaving Society, insists that the government must act immediately - not in two years - to prevent drownings and near drownings.

“She [Guilbault] wants to extend [the deadline] for two years. That means the next two summers, maybe we’re going to have those drowning situations with toddlers and with seniors,” he said. “We are very concerned about this two-year delay.”

Hawkins argues that, regardless of when the deadline is, procrastination should not be rewarded.

“I’m very sure some owners will maybe wait until summer 2027 to try to meet the standards, and the comments we will receive, ‘the price is too high,’ ‘we cannot find any entrepreneur to do that,’” he said. “I’m very sure we’re going to have the same reactions in the summer [of] 2027.”

Fences, Hawkins points out plainly, save lives.

“The point is, particularly with the toddlers and the seniors, if they have accessibility from the house to their backyard pool, you increase the probability [of having] those fatal and unfatal situations,” he said.

What are the regulations?

According to the Quebec government, all in-ground or semi-inground swimming pools must:

• Have a ladder or steps to facilitate entering and exiting the water;
• Have a fence that is at least 1.2 m (48 inches) tall;
• Have automatic hinges that close the gate;
• Have a latch on the pool side that locks the gate. A latch may be installed on the other side if it is 1.5 m above ground;
• Have a one-metre distance between the fence and the pool.

Additionally, the fence must not be climbable, and spherical objects measuring 10 cm in diameter must not be able to pass under the fence.

• READ MORE: Quebec pool fences: How to make sure you comply with the regulations

Hedges and shrubs do not count as providing safe enclosure.

Above-ground swimming pools with a wall height of at least 1.2 m at all points or a removable swimming pool with a wall height of 1.4 m or more do not need to be surrounded by an enclosure when access to the pool is via:

• a ladder equipped with a safety gate that closes and locks automatically;
• a ladder or platform whose access is protected by a complying enclosure;
• a deck attached to a home where the opening to the pool is protected by a complying enclosure.

Any device related to a pool’s operations (such as a filter or pump) must be installed more than one metre from the pool wall or enclosure, unless in a shed or under a structure that prevents access to the pool.

• READ MORE: Quebec pool owners get reprieve as government delays safety rules deadline

The pipes connecting the device to the pool must be flexible and not be installed in a way that could facilitate climbing the pool wall or enclosure.