Vehicle registration plates of Quebec

The Canadian province of Quebec first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display licence plates in 1912. Plates are currently issued by the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (Quebec Automobile Insurance Corporation).

From 1963 to 1977 (except 1967), licence plates carried the slogan La Belle Province ("The Beautiful Province"), a nickname for Quebec. Since 1978, they have carried Je me souviens ("I remember"), the official motto of the province.

Quebec is also one of only two provinces where decals are not used to show that the vehicle has valid registration (the other being Saskatchewan).

Since 1979, Quebec legislation has required only rear plates, though there are certain cases where front plates are also required. Annual renewal stickers, introduced in 1979 have now been abolished for passenger vehicles. Dates for plate renewal are determined by either one of two factors: for passenger vehicles, based on the first letter of the registered owner's name, and for other vehicles, based on the type of vehicle. For example, the registration of passenger vehicles whose owners' surnames begin with the letter "L" and school buses is to be renewed in September. Registrations and fees may be renewed up to three months in advance. Trailer plates ("R" category) are not renewed annually: they are only registered upon initial purchase, or when transferred to another owner.[1] Enforcement is done by a variety of methods, including automated number plate recognition. [2]

Vehicles registered in Quebec can only display approved plates. Decorative designs are tolerated at the front of the vehicles, but displaying foreign plates (or plates whose design is likely to be mistaken for a registration plate) is an offense under articles 34 and 56 of the Code de la sécurité routière (Highway traffic act) and punishable with a fine.[3]

Relief Design Inc., of St-Louis de Blandford, is specialized in the production of license plates on behalf of the SAAQ.

Vehicle categories

Certain vehicle categories are indicated on plates by the use of prefixes: [4]

Active categories

Active categories Prefix
Taxis (** two digits indicate the area where the taxi operates) T, T**
Taxis requiring a special permit (ie: limousines) TS
Taxis used for non-emergency patient transfer TB
Trucks, truck-trailer, and farm vehicles over 3000kg L
Buses and minibuses A, AE, AP, AU
Restricted use vehicles (including vehicles used in remote areas not connected to the remainder of the road network, farm tractors, snowmobiles, vintage motorcycles and automobiles restricted to roads with speed limits below 70km/h) C
Removable plates (ie: garage and dealers) X
Removable motorcycle and snowmobile plates XA (only on small motorcycle plate)
Trailers R
Vehicles used off public roadways (snowmobiles under 450kg, and vehicles restricted to use in harbors, train stations and airports) V
Other vehicles (including commercial, farm, driving school, occasional school use, road-going machines, snow removal vehicles, hearses, ambulances, tow trucks) F
Consular and diplomatic staff vehicles (e.g. CC 123, CD 123) [5] CC, CD
Licensed shortwave radio operators (e.g. VE2 AA, VE2 AAA, VA2 AA, VA2 AAA) [5] VE2, VA2

Retired categories

Description Expired prefix Replaced by
Farm trailers registered before 1 January 1989 U R
Government of Québec GQ F
Sureté du Québec provincial police force GP F
Government of Canada G F
Hearse CO, H F
Ambulance AM, H F
Rentals, short-term (less than one year). [6] ZZ F
Rentals/leases longer than one year. [6]If a leased by a commercial owner, prefix may be combined with F prefix. Z, FZ F

Passenger plates 1963 to present

In 1956, the U.S. states and Canadian provinces came to an agreement with the Automobile Manufacturers Association that fixed the size for licence plates for vehicles, except those for motorcycles, at six inches in height by twelve inches in width, with standardized mounting holes. The 1955 (dated 1956) issue was the first Quebec licence plate that complied with these standards.

Image First issued Description Slogan Serial format Serials issued Notes
1963 Embossed black numbers on white plate with border line; "QUÉBEC - 63" embossed in black block letters spanning the plate above numbers; black fleur-de-lys separating the first three and last three digits of registration number of regular passenger vehicle plates. On non-passenger cars, fleur-de-lis used to separate vehicle class indicator from registration numbers. "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in black block letters centered below numbers. 123-456 First use of "La Belle Province" slogan.
1964 Embossed green numbers on yellow plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in white block letters centered above numbers; white fleur-de-lys and "64" embossed at far left, separated from numbers by a dividing line. "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in green block letters centered below numbers. 1A-2345
1965 Embossed white numbers on blue plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in white block letters centered above numbers; white fleur-de-lys and "65" embossed at far left, separated from numbers by a dividing line. "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in white block letters centered below numbers. 1A-2345
1966 Embossed white numbers on red plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in white block letters centered above numbers; white fleur-de-lys and "66" embossed at far left, separated from numbers by dividing line. "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in white block letters centered below numbers

1967 Embossed red designs and lettering on white plate with embossed border line; Front and rear plates of different design.
Front plate: Centred logo of the Montreal Expo 67, with fleur-de-lys on the left and along the bottom from left to right "1967", the vehicle's registration number, and "QUÉ."
Rear plate: "QUÉ." and maple leaf on the left, vehicle's registration on the right. Along the bottom from left to right "1867 CONFÉDÉRATION 1967".		 Front plate: "MONTRÉAL EXPO67"
Rear plate: "CONFÉDÉRATION"		 Commemorated both the Montreal 1967 World Exposition and the centennary of Canadian confederation.
1968 Embossed white numbers on dark blue plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in white block letters centered above numbers; white fleur-de-lys and "68" embossed at far left, separated from numbers by dividing line. "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in white block letters centered below numbers 1A-2345 1A-0001 to approximately 9S-1000
1969 Embossed black numbers on white plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in black block letters centered above numbers; black fleur-de-lys and "69" embossed at far left, separated from numbers by dividing line. "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in black block letters centered below numbers 1A-2345 1A-0001 to approximately 1V-2500
1970 Embossed white numbers on dark green plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in white block letters centered above numbers; white fleur-de-lys and "70" embossed at far left, separated from numbers by dividing line. "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in white block letters centered below numbers 1A-2345 1A-0001 to 9Z-9999
1971 Embossed black numbers on metallic pea green plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in black block letters centered above numbers; black fleur-de-lys and "71" embossed at far left, separated from numbers by dividing line "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in black block letters centered below numbers 123-456 100-001 to 999-999
1A-2345 (following exhaustion of above format) 1A-0001 to approximately 8J-2500
1972 Embossed white numbers on red plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in white block letters centered above numbers; white fleur-de-lys embossed in top left corner and "72" in top right corner "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in white block letters centered below numbers 123-456 100-001 to 999-999 This is an example of a trailer ("R") plate.
1A-2345 (following exhaustion of above format) 1A-1 to approximately 9K-5000
1973 Embossed red numbers on white plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in red block letters centered above numbers; "19" embossed in top left corner and "73" in top right corner; red fleur-de-lys used as separator in numbers "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in red block letters centered below numbers 123-456 100-001 to
999-999
1A-2345 (following exhaustion of above format) 1A-0001 to approximately 8M-1250
1974 Embossed black numbers on yellow plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in black block letters centered above numbers; black fleur-de-lys embossed in top left corner and "74" in top right corner "LA BELLE PROVINCE" embossed in black block letters centered below numbers 123A456 100A001 to 999A999
123E456 100E001 to 999E999
123H456 100H001 to approximately 450H000
1975 Embossed green numbers on white plate with border line; "QUÉBEC" embossed in green block letters centered above numbers; "75" embossed in top left corner and fleur-de-lys in top right corner; numbers in two sets of three digits, separated by a letter. "La belle province" 123A456
1976 Cream base with embossed orange lettering. 1976 Summer Olympics logo in the lower centre of the plate. "La belle province" 123A456
1977 Light blue base ("Bleu Québec") with embossed dark blue lettering. "La belle province" 123A456
1978 Light beige base with embossed brown lettering. "Je me souviens" 123A456
1979 blue embossed on reflective white Je me souviens 123A456 Front plates no longer issued. Plates no longer issued annually.
(1983 sticker) dark blue on reflective white Je me souviens ABC 123 validated with stickers until 1992
1996 dark blue on reflective white Je me souviens 123 ABC
January 1, 2006 dark blue on reflective white, with red and black screened image of poppy in centre of plate Je me souviens 123 ABC Issued to eligible veterans, subject to vetting standards set by the Royal Canadian Legion. For use on vehicles of less than 3000kg. [7] Plates are also produced by Relief Design Inc.
2009 dark blue on reflective white Je me souviens A12 BCD
2011 green on reflective white with electric vehicle pictogram on lower left corner [8] Je me souviens E00 VEA (passengers), A00000 (buses), FVE0000 (commercial <3000kg) Hybrid or all-electric vehicles only

References

  1. ↑ "Month for Renewal of Vehicle Registration". Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec. Gouvernement du Québec. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  2. ↑ Frenette, Marie-Claude (31 August 2011). "La police de Mascouche se munit d'un lecteur de plaques". Le Trait d'Union (in French) (http://www.letraitdunion.com/). Retrieved 18 August 2015. External link in |publisher= (help)
  3. ↑ "CODE DE LA SÉCURITÉ ROUTIÈRE". Publications du Québec (in French). Éditeur officiel du Québec. Retrieved 18 August 2015. Aucune plaque ou vignette qui peut être confondue avec une plaque d'immatriculation ou une vignette de contrôle délivrée par la Société ou par une autre autorité administrative compétente ne peut être fixée sur un véhicule routier ou apposée sur une plaque, sauf s'il s'agit d'une plaque ou d'une vignette requise en vertu d'une autre loi en vigueur au Québec ou d'une plaque fixée conformément aux normes et aux conditions établies en vertu du paragraphe 19° de l'article 618.
  4. ↑ "Catégories de plaques d'immatriculation". Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (in French). Gouvernement du Québec. 14 August 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Passenger Vehicles (Personal Use)". Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec. Gouvernement du Québec. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Journal des débats (Hansard) of the Committee on Planning and Infrastructures". Journal des débats (in French) 28 (15). 18 December 1984. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Veteran's plates for cars". Royal Canadian Legion Quebec Command. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "Electric Vehicles". Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec. Gouvernement du Québec. Retrieved 31 August 2015.

External links

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