Québec City Chapter, Retired Members Guild
MINUTES of the Executive meeting of the Québec City Chapter of the Retired Members Guild, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, held on June 22, 2017 at Le Rascal restaurant, 5050 Wilfrid-Hamel Boulevard, Québec City, Quebec G2E 5X5.
IN ATTENDANCE: Élie Ahad
Michel Bédard
André Cantin
Guy Michel Lachance
Madeleine Lapointe
Jean-Pierre Morency
Léandre Sévigny
1.0 Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 11:29 a.m.
President André Cantin welcomed the members. To start, he mentioned that he had sent condolences to Yvon Brodeur, on behalf of the Québec City Chapter Executive, following the recent death of his brother. He then noted that our Chapter’s 2017–2018 contribution had been sent to the Table de concertation des personnes aînées de la Capitale-Nationale. Next, he expressed his concern about the in-fighting that appears to be going on within PIPSC. He ended by advising us of the dates of our Chapter’s upcoming events.
2.0 Review and Approval of the Agenda
The President read the agenda. Madeleine Lapointe, seconded by Élie Ahad, moved that the agenda be approved.
Carried unanimously.
3.0 Reading and Adoption of the March 29, 2017 Meeting Minutes
Jean-Pierre Morency, seconded by Madeleine Lapointe, moved that the March 29, 2017 meeting minutes be approved.
Carried unanimously.
The Secretary-Treasurer will send the minutes to be posted on the PIPSC website.
Action: Michel Bédard
4.0 Follow-up on the March 29, 2017 Meeting
Item 3.0 Secretary-Treasurer to send January 9, 2017 meeting minutes for posting on the PIPSC website
Action completed
Item 9.1 Obtain an age profile of NAFR members
The efforts to get an age profile on April 3, 2017 failed, as the NAFR has not compiled any data to that effect.
Action completed
Item 9.1 Members’ use of, and satisfaction with, the travel insurance offered by ServicePlus
Answer received by email on April 5, 2017: No data on the matter because it involves a contractual relationship between an individual and AIG, the insurance company. As for customer satisfaction, ServicePlus has not reported any complaints so far.
Action completed
Item 10.0 Table de Concertation des personnes aînées de la Capitale-Nationale and the National Association of Federal Retirees (NAFR).
As requested, Jean-Pierre Morency replaced our President at the recent meetings of these organizations, as André was away.
Action completed
Item 11.1 Other and New Business.
Jean-Pierre Morency will send us the documents received concerning the action taken in preparation for PIPSC’s 100th anniversary.
Action completed
Item 11.2 Impact of Phoenix problems on a retired PIPSC member
Action completed and review of the issue at item 6.0 of these minutes
Item 11.3 Delay in posting our last three sets of minutes on the PIPSC website
The administrative secretary was contacted about this and replied that all of the requests had been acted on. She explained the delay saying that the translation department has had a heavy workload and that the website is being upgraded.
Action completed
5.0 Update on the Chapter’s Finances
Michel Bédard presented the statement of our Chapter’s revenues and expenses as of June 22, 2017.
The members expressed satisfaction with the report and approved it unanimously.
6.0 Report by Élie Ahad, Our Regional Representative
Élie began by saying that there were two meetings of the Vision Committee (April 5 and June 7) and two meetings of the Retired Members Guild National Executive (April 6 and June 8); both meetings were held in Ottawa. He informed us that PIPSC Vice-President Steve Hindle attended the April meetings and outlined the main topics as follows.
A resolution was adopted to suspend all discretionary spending that has not been pre-approved, pending a complete review of the 2017 RMG budget. As of December 31, 2016, the RMG had approximately 500 fewer members than the same time the previous year. A survey, to be led by RMG Vice-President Sue Ramsay, will be conducted in the BC/Yukon Region and will include three to five specific questions to find out why a number of members leave the RMG after they retire.
The RMG National Executive passed a resolution to defer the Toronto Chapter’s motion requesting additional funding. The Toronto Chapter then decided to withdraw its motion. The Toronto Executive is also challenging Terry Sing’s role as RMG Ambassador; RMG President P. Kinnear will prepare a document describing Terry Sing’s role and involvement in RMG matters and activities.
ServicePlus travel insurance. Andrew Gize (PIPSC) responded to my request regarding the number of retired members insured and the claims-related complaints. PIPSC does not have this type of information; for these types of statistics, the insurance company must be contacted.
All RMG chapters must have an account with BMO. The RMG Treasurer will contact the Treasurers of the various Chapters to ask for their BMO account number in order to facilitate e-transfers. All PIPSC branches now receive funding for both regular and retired members. A new Chapter was recently created in the Avalon Region of Newfoundland. The RMG’s 20th anniversary will be celebrated in 2020, coinciding with PIPSC’s 100th anniversary.
PIPSC President Debi Daviau sent some guidelines on email correspondence. PIPSC was represented by 27 Stewards at the May 2017 Convention of the Canadian Labour Congress; Terry Sing was one of the Stewards and represented the RMG. The RMG is not a burden on PIPSC but instead contributes to its funding; unfortunately, this is not something that PIPSC can advertise in its magazine or on its website. The AV Group adopted a motion to exclude retired members from the Executive; this discrimination is not based on age but rather on our status as retirees.
There will be an RMG election in four regions: National Capital, Ontario, BC/Yukon and Atlantic. A document outlining the boundaries of each Chapter of the RMG will be translated and posted on the website. The document entitled Direction Future de la Guilde' (future direction of the RMG) will be sent to the Chapters for feedback, then translated and posted on the website. On May 15, PIPSC sent a brief to the Minister of Finance recommending that Bill C-27 be scrapped.
Two motions regarding the Vision Committee were defeated. The first motion proposed discontinuing the committee and extending the National Executive meeting over two days. The second motion was to increase the number of Vision Committee members. There are currently six members on the Committee (four Executive members and two NCR members); there were only three members when the Vision Committee was created.
The Québec Regional Council meeting took place in Drummondville on May 5 and 6, 2017. PIPSC Vice-President Stéphane Aubry gave a presentation on Bill C-27. PIPSC President Debi Daviau and PIPSC Regional Representative Valérie Charette talked about Phoenix: the problems have been dragging on for more than 18 months; around 1,000 complaints and individual grievances have been filed, in addition to a recent group grievance; employees have delayed retirement; unions are not receiving the dues deducted. The last survey showed that 70% of members support PIPSC and unions in general. Severance pay can now be paid over two fiscal years to reduce taxes.
The next meetings of the Vision Committee and National Executive will be held in Ottawa on September 13 and 14, 2017, respectively.
7.0 Québec City Branch News
Michel Bédard reported briefly on the Québec City Branch meetings held on April 26 and June 14, 2017. The main topics discussed at the April 26 meeting were the arrangements for the spring activity (happy hour) on June 5 at Baie de Beauport and the initial steps for getting bids from various venues where the AGM could be held. The date of the AGM will depend on the availability of the guest speakers (Debi Daviau, PIPSC President, and Fréderic Durso, Labour Relations Officer at the Montréal Regional Office). At the June 14, 2017 meeting, a post-mortem was done on the June 5 event, which had a theme of living together around shared values. The date of the Branch’s 2017 AGM has been set for Wednesday, October 11 and will be held at the Manoir Montmorency. The guest speakers have confirmed their attendance. The President of the new NR Sub-Group also reported on the PowerPoint presentation he gave at the meeting of NR Sub-Group Presidents in St. John’s, Newfoundland. For more details, go to the Québec City Branch website at www.pipsc.ca/portal/page/portal/website/regions/quebec/quebec.
8.0 Bill C-27 Update
All of the Chapter’s Executive members sent an email to the Minister of Finance urging him to reject Bill C-27. PIPSC also submitted a brief with the same message. All we can do now is wait and see what the Minister of Finance will do in the fall.
9.0 Preparations for the Québec City Chapter’s 2017 AGM
The Secretary-Treasurer will ask the President of the Québec City Branch about the date of the 2017 AGM. Then our President will contact PIPSC’s President to find out if she can come to our meeting, which could be held the day before or after the Branch AGM. When he gets an answer, he will reserve a room for a date that suits our speaker. The topic of her speech will be Bill C-27.
Action: André Cantin and Michel Bédard
10.0 News from the Table de Concertation des personnes aînées de la Capitale-Nationale and the National Association of Federal Retirees
Jean-Pierre Morency attended the Annual General Meeting of the Table de concertation. He noted that the organization has lost half of its members and that it has been trying to reassess its mission since the elimination of the Conférence régionale des élus. Jean-Pierre also noted that the organization is dealing with too many issues. With less public funding and fewer members, he will be interested to see how it redefines itself over the next year.
As for the Québec City Chapter of the NAFR, it is undergoing budget cuts.For more information, you can go to www.ainescapnat.qc.ca/ and www.anrf-sq.org/.
11.0 Other and New Business
None.
12.0 Adjournment
Léandre Sévigny, seconded by Jean-Pierre Morency, moved that the meeting be adjourned at 2:39 p.m.
Carried unanimously.
Michel Bédard
Secretary-Treasurer
Québec City Chapter, Retired Members Guild
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
July 31, 2017
André Cantin
President’s Signature
Michel Bédard
Secretary-Treasurer’s Signature