I always thought that the postal abbreviation for Quebec was “PQ,” for Province of Quebec. The other day however, I saw address label that said “St. Damien, QC”. I asked the secretery where I work about this, and she told me that it’s always been QC. Did they change the code, or has it always been QC?
It’s PQ.
It’s QC. Cite.
It’s QC - as Brian has, ironically, put into his location in his own profile.
Shhhh, I was being ironic.
It used to be “PQ”, and I’m not sure when the transition occured, but it seems logical enough since “QC” can be considered an abbreviation of “Quebec” while “PQ” ends up standing for “Province of Quebec” (or “Province du Quebec”) and makes about as much sense as using “SM” for “State of Michigan”.
Of course, since no other postal abbreviation in North America has a “Q” in it, you could get by with “PQ” or “QC”, but you should probably start using the latter.
Tradnor is correct that the official code is “Qc”. However, many, many people still use PQ which is probably why Bryan Ekers answered PQ.
IIRC PQ was once official, but there was a change to Qc at some point.
Ironically, of course, my “Shhh” comment was directed at Tradnor, and RickJay sneaked his reply in while I was typing.
And lo, I failed to notice Bryan’s location…
As did I. This page indicates the change occurred around 1993-4.
Perhaps it was changed because “PQ” became identified with the seperatist “Parti Quebecois” rater than as a general abbreviation for the province?
I know that’s part of the reason why I always stick with QC.
Whenever I sign up for something online I find I have little choice in the matter in that only one or the other is recognized as being correct. I get the ol’ ‘The State or Province code you have entered is invalid.’ Whichever one I do choose always ends up being the wrong one. Go figure.