A Quebec Superior Court judge has ruled a class-action lawsuit can proceed against Volkswagen in connection with its emissions-cheating scandal.

While the courts in Ontario and Quebec approved a settlement deal with vehicle owners in 2017, this new lawsuit is not only for people who owned or leased cars from Volkswagen.

The Association québécoise de lutte contre la pollution atmosphérique, a provincial environmental group, contends all Quebecers were victims of pollution generated by the company's vehicles.

The association is seeking $35 in damages for every person who lived in Quebec at some point between Jan. 1, 2009 and Sept. 21, 2015.

In 2016, the flagship Volkswagen brand admitted it faked results in emissions tests in order to meet emissions standards for millions of its vehicles sold worldwide. About 100,000 of those vehicles were sold in Canada.

André Belisle, the president of the association, said large companies like Volkswagen need to be held accountable for environmental damage.

"They see the environment as something very minor but the problems are growing and growing and growing," he said. "And at some point we have to put our foot down."

The lawsuit, if successful, could cost Volkswagen hundreds of millions of dollars.