A regional conference of representatives (French: Conférence régionale des élus (CRE)) was a type of governance in an administrative region of Quebec.
The CREs were primarily responsible for advising the Government of Quebec on issues in their respective regions and implementing projects assigned to them by the government. As such, they were acting as both interlocutors as well as agents.
They had no taxation or management powers in their respective regions. They worked with various political and socioeconomic partners, including the regional departments and agencies in Quebec, the regional county municipalities, the local development centres and development corporations that operated in the region.
Originally Quebec was divided into 19 CREs, with complete territorial coverage: one for each of the administrative regions, except for Montérégie which had three. Today there are more than 21 organisations, if first nations are included.
CREs were abolished in 2016.[1]