Québec Scuba Diving Permits

Québec, that most statist of political entities in North America will soon sic its Provincial Police officers on hapless scuba divers who fail to buy a permit to scuba dive in the province. This intrusion of government stupidity into the private realm is supposedly as a result of diver deaths in Québec due to inadequate or insufficient training. The solution: have divers qualify for a dive permit by being evaluated by Québecois dive instructors. Am I the only one to see the idiocy in having people certified as competent to dive by those who apparently were part of the problem leading to the diver deaths, thus leading to the permit scheme? More on this at text of the provincial regulation in French and a discussion in English on this useless tax grab at Ontario Diving