Quebec Restaurants and Bars to Return to Full Capacity and Pre-Pandemic Hours on November 1

Restaurants and bars across Quebec can revert to full capacity starting November 1, the Quebec government announced today.

The provincial government will also be reinstating pre-pandemic operating hours for these establishments, meaning bars can go back to staying open until 3 a.m., rather than 2 a.m. with a 1 a.m. stop on the sale of alcohol.

As of next month, tables will only need to be spaced one meter apart (replacing the current two-meter-apart spacing regulations); restaurants can install partitions when this is not possible.

The province’s decision to allow thousands to gather at full-capacity venues as large as the Bell Centre as of October 8, without extending the same reprieve to restaurants and bars, has repeatedly been called into question by business owners, among them the Nouvelle Association des Bars du Québec (NABQ).

Certain public health restrictions will remain, though, notably mandatory mask-wearing while circulating through an establishment, a maximum of 10 people or three different households allowed to be seated at a single table, and all the rules surrounding vaccine passports.

Despite this latest step toward eased restrictions, the government plans to uphold the ban on singing and dancing — the latter of which a number of the city’s nightclubs are planning to protest in a dance parade on October 23.

• Les bars et restaurants du Québec au maximum de leur capacité dès le 1er novembre [Radio Canada]
• Des allégements sanitaires en vue pour les bars et restaurants [Le Devoir]