Canadian police associations to boycott the World Police and Fire Games of Montreal

MONTREAL, March 15, 2016 /CNW/ - Following the request of the Fraternité des policiers et policières de Montreal, the Board of Directors of the Canadian Police Association has unanimously agreed to boycott the 2017 World Police and Fire Games being held next year in Montreal.  

"We are standing up as a matter of principle", declared Yves Francoeur, President of the Fraternité of Montreal, underlining that the background of this decision is founded on the intransigence of Mayor Coderre. "Despite our efforts and the solutions we proposed, we have faced a wall on more than one occasion.  This unfortunately led us to conclude that we could not, in good conscience, take part in the World Police and Fire Games while the rights of our members are being trampled," added Yves Francoeur.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre has been a passionate advocate for the Quebec government's Bill 15.

The CPA supports the Fraternité

The Canadian Police Association recently joined the Fraternité of Montreal with a motion in support of Quebec police officers' employment conditions which are being undermined by legislation which undermines long standing collective bargaining rights. These fundamental bargaining rights have recently been validated by the recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada.  Proposing legislation that undermines these well-established rights is not acceptable in Quebec or any other Province in Canada. "The treatment of Quebec Police Officers, particularly Montreal police officers, under the proposed Municipal Employee Pension Plan legislation in Quebec, is simply unacceptable," stated Canadian Police Association President Tom Stamatakis.

President Stamatakis emphasized that these kind of draconian measures exist nowhere else in Canada and Canadian police associations will work together to push-back against these sorts of heavy handed tactics. "We will not accept the kind of legislation Mayor Coderre is proposing in Montreal, which undermines basic rights of our colleagues in Montreal; not in Montreal and not anywhere else in Canada," he concluded.

What is Bill 15?

In December 2014, the Government of Quebec adopted Bill 15 on municipal pension plans.  This Law denies the right to associate being that it dictates in advance the end results of a negotiation. This is in reality bogus bargaining.

In fact, Bill 15 notably stipulates the bargaining efforts must bindingly respect a 50‑50 cost-sharing of contributions and deficits. Conclusions of Bill 15 are retroactive such as those of the Montreal police officers who made salary trade-offs in exchange for better retirement conditions and now experience the advantages of their choices historically cancelled at the same time that the disadvantages of their choices, remain and will also be reflected in the future.

Ultimately this Law allows the City of Montreal to recover more than 40 million dollars yearly at the expense of police officers and this, without any bargaining procedure.  

Impacts of Bill 15 for Montreal police officers

Bill 15 claims to impose (without any possibility to bargain):

• An increase of more than 40 % of the contribution payable by each police officer each year, which equals to 3% salary increase or $2500 per year for a 1^st Class Constable ;
• A near 30% cut (28.6 %) of the value of the benefits, rights and advantages for a 1st Class Constable, which represents an amount of $6600 yearly ; 
• A combined effect of the due increase and the diminishing of rights worth more than $9000 yearly for a 1st Class Constable ;
• A loss of benefits valued at approximately 263 million dollars for the group of active participants due to the abolition of automatic indexation clauses.

The right

It may be repeated that the Supreme Court of Canada clarified its notion on the span of the freedom of association under s. 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the judgment delivered in the case of the Mounted Police Association of Ontario, in January 2015:

"… A process that substantially interferes with a meaningful process of collective bargaining by reducing employees' negotiating power is therefore inconsistent with the guarantee of freedom of association enshrined in s. 2)."

SOURCE Canadian Police Association (CPA)

Martin Desrochers, Director, Research and Communications, Fraternité des policiers et policières de Montréal, Tel: [phone], Cell: 514.913.0708, Email: [email protected]; Michael Gendron , Communications Officer, Canadian Police Association, Tel: [phone] ext. 229, Cell: 613.299.6516, Email: [email protected]