Since becoming one of the strategies put forth in Quebec’s National Public Health Programme, community development has gained a higher profile. This article seeks to clarify a certain number of concepts, a few of the conditions that favour the practices of community development, as well as certain issues at stake in it. The challenge is to make the health system’s resources serve democratic community development, rather than to have communities used to attain public health goals. To this end, the different forms of expertise (in regard to process, content, and citizenship) must be brought together, otherwise community development will not fully play its role in improving the health and welfare of communities.