TLDR watch these videos : https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/12/19/gros-partys-de-...
National Health institute released a timeline : https://inspq.qc.ca/covid-19/donnees/ligne-du-temps
Following the summer vaccination campaign, cases were stable, vaccination was going well, higher risk locations and activities (gyms, bars, restaurants, etc.) had to up requirements of having a proof of vaccination, restrictions were slowly being lifted up to the point where bars and restaurants were allowed to run at full capacity provided patrons were seated, vaccinated and wearing a mask when walking around. On Nov 15th, they lifted even more restrictions.
https://www.lapresse.ca/covid-19/2021-11-15/les-assouplissem...
This removed the requirement for bars / restaurants to hold a visitor's registry, wearing a mask in public schools, and also allowed patrons to dance and sing karaoke. Nightclubs were allowed to reopen since now patrons didn't have to sit and could dance although wearing a mask at all times while inside the establishment and being vaccinated was still mandatory. I've seen snaps and stories showing quite the opposite about masks and I heard from a friend that he went to a place where they tried to verify his proof of vaccination with a powered off device...
Cases were slowly ramping up but still manageable, corporate xmas parties were booked and private gatherings were announced to be allowed up to 20 people.
On Dec 16th, government officials announced that cases were going back up and that they were monitoring the situation. Return to remote work if possible, restrict commercial capacity to 50%, limit dropped to 10 people for xmas private gatherings and that starting on monday dec. 20th, covid tests would be distributed for free in pharmacies. Also dance and karaoke would be forbidden in bars / restaurants.
https://www.lapresse.ca/covid-19/2021-12-16/explosion-des-ca...
https://www.lapresse.ca/affaires/2021-12-16/vague-d-annulati...
Then this happened and made the news https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/12/19/gros-partys-de-...
Which led to this https://www.lapresse.ca/covid-19/2021-12-20/en-guerre-contre...
And we are waiting for more announcements on wednesday as Quebec has hit 5k new cases per day and they forecast a possible rise to 10k per day
As for the free tests, some pharmacies need you to book in advance and the system crashed yesterday after coming online and last I checked there was no availability in my area. I went to 2 pharmacies where you can walk-in and request it on a first come first served basis. They said they got about 100 each yesterday and today and they were gone within an hour of the store opening.