MINUTES of the Executive Committee meeting of the Québec City Chapter of the Retired Members Guild (RMG), Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), held on March 29, 2017, at La Piazzetta restaurant, 3100 De la Forest, Québec City, Quebec, G1W 1L8.
IN ATTENDANCE: Élie Ahad
Michel Bédard
André Cantin
Guy Michel Lachance
Madeleine Lapointe
Jean-Pierre Morency
Léandre Sévigny
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1.0 Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 11:12 a.m.
President André Cantin welcomed the members.
2.0 Review and Approval of the Agenda
The President read the agenda. After a couple of additions to item 11.0, Madeleine Lapointe, seconded by Élie Ahad, moved to approve the agenda.
Carried unanimously.
3.0 Reading and Adoption of the January 9, 2017 Meeting Minutes
Jean-Pierre Morency, seconded by Léandre Sévigny, moved that the January 9, 2017 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 Minutes of the January 9, 2017 Meeting
Item 3.0 Secretary-Treasurer to send August 23, 2016 meeting minutes for posting on the PIPSC website
Action completed
Item 5.0 Update on our Chapter’s financial status. The steps to obtain funding from the Quebec Regional Council for our Chapter’s Executive activities have been completed. We have not yet heard back on the matter.
Ongoing
Item 6.0 Report by Élie Ahad, our Regional Representative. André Cantin will send an email to the National RMG President so that we can obtain copies quickly of the National Executive meeting agendas.
Action completed
Item 9.0 Review of our Chapter’s projects for 2017. André Cantin will send a copy of this document to the Quebec Regional Director.
Action completed
Item 9.0 Review of our Chapter’s projects for 2017. Vice-President Jean-Pierre Morency offered to update his slide presentation on pensions.
Action completed
Item 10.0 News from the Table de Concertation des personnes aînées de la Capitale-Nationale and the National Association of Federal Retirees (NAFR). The President will email us the link to the Table de concertation’s newsletter.
Action completed
Item 11.1 Comparative analysis of travel insurance offered by PIPSC (MRM) and the NAFR (MEDOC). The Secretary-Treasurer emailed the other members of the Québec City Chapter Executive the preliminary results of the steps he had taken on this matter.
Action completed
Item 11.2 Janet Milroy’s retirement. The President will send a thank you note to Janet for her good service over the past few years.
Action completed
Item 11.3 Date of next meeting. The President will decide on the date and let us know.
Action completed
5.0 Update on the Chapter’s Finances
Michel Bédard presented the statement of our Chapter’s revenues and expenses as of March 29, 2017.
The members expressed satisfaction with the report and approved it unanimously.
6.0 Report by Élie Ahad, Our Regional Representative
Élie began his report by saying that Richard Rice (Treasurer, RMG) and Greg Scriver (Member-at-Large, NCR) met with Minister Andrew Leslie in Ottawa on January 17, 2017 to lobby against Bill C-27.
He pointed out that Paul Godin and other PIPSC delegates attended a lobbyist convention, organized by the CLC, on February 7, 2017. They raised PIPSC’s concerns with respect to pay equity, pharmacare, and Bills C-4 and C-27 with two MPs who attended the event, Greg Fergus (Liberal) and Karine Trudel (NDP).
He then talked about the e-695 electronic petition against Bill C-27, which has 8000 signatures from across Canada.
He then informed us that Finance Minister Bill Morneau invited the unions to send him written submissions outlining their concerns and possible solutions regarding Bill C-27 by May 15, 2017. PIPSC asked members to send postcards to their MPs to stop Bill C-27 from being passed.
In response to a request regarding the age pyramid of retired members in PIPSC’s RMG, Élie specified that the figures obtained showed that half of the members are in the 60 to 69 years of age segment.
On a completely different topic, Élie was critical of the fact that, for the last five years, a significant part of National Executive meetings in Ottawa had been devoted to discussions to address the numerous requests for additional funds from the RMG’s Toronto Chapter.
He concluded by saying that the next Vision Committee and National Executive meetings will be held in Ottawa on April 5 and 6, 2017, respectively, and that the next Quebec Regional Council will take place in Drummondville on May 5 and 6, 2017.
7.0 Québec City Branch News
Michel Bédard reported briefly on the Québec City Branch meeting held February 15, 2017. The Happy Hour organized by the Young Professionals Committee, held in Montréal on February 2, was a success. We are thinking of holding this event again in the near future for young public servants in the Québec City Region. The second topic discussed was the feedback received on the January 30 happy hour, with the theme “Mental Health, It’s Important” at the Valcartier officers’ mess. The many attendees greatly enjoyed the presentation by the dynamic speaker, Sylvain Guimond. The third topic was preparations for the spring event scheduled for late May or early June, at Baie de Beauport. Lastly, we discussed preparations for the fall 2017 Branch AGM. For more details, go to www.pipsc.ca/portal/page/portal/website/regions/quebec/quebec
8.0 Summary of Current and Future Measures to Stop Bill C-27
To date, all Québec City Chapter Executive members have responded positively to the measures suggested by PIPSC, PSAC and the NAFR. We now need to encourage all members of these organizations to take concrete action (send an email or sign an electronic petition addressed to the minister responsible and to their MP) to show their opposition to Bill C-27. Time is running out. The Minister is awaiting our suggestions and comments, which we need to send by May 15, 2017.
9.0 Preparatory Discussions in Anticipation of Our 2017 AGM
9.1 The topic considered for our fall 2017 Chapter AGM is “Comparative analysis of travel insurance (MRM and AIG) offered through ServicePlus (PIPSC) and through Johnson’s MEDOC Travel Insurance (NAFR).
For the purposes of this analysis, we will need to contact the insurance representatives of each company so that they can come and explain to us in detail the benefits of their respective product.
The Secretary-Treasurer will attempt to obtain the age pyramid of NAFR members.
Action: Michel Bédard
We will also need to find out whether a significant number of PIPSC members (how many?) use travel insurance (MRM and AIG) offered by ServicePlus and whether they are happy with it. Have complaints been made to PIPSC by users? If so, what are the main complaints?
Action: Élie Ahad
9.2 Election
The three-year term of all of our Chapter’s Executive members will come to an end in the fall of 2017. This means that an election must be held at the 2017 AGM. The members around the table were asked if they were interested in serving another term.
10.0 News from the Table de Concertation des personnes aînées de la Capitale-Nationale and the National Association of Federal Retirees (NAFR)
The President reminded members that he had emailed them the questionnaire that he completed upon request of the Chair of the Table de concertation. He also informed us that the Table de concertation has been receiving significantly less money in recent years, which is the reason behind the new annual dues that the Table is asking of its participating associations. André asked Jean-Pierre Morency to replace him at the next meeting, scheduled for the end of April.
André Cantin spoke highly of the last issue of the SAGE magazine (Spring 2017), published by the National Association of Federal Retirees. The magazine discusses the monetary issues of retirement plans as well as Bill C-27.For more information on these topics, please visit www.ainescapnat.qc.ca/andwww.anrf-sq.org/.
Action: Jean-Pierre Morency
12.0 Other and New Business
11.1 100th anniversary of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
Jean-Pierre Morency briefly informed us of the steps taken to date in anticipation of PIPSC’s 100th anniversary. It will be celebrated on a date to be determined in 2019 or 2020. We have called for nominations for a historian who will write a commemorative publication.
Jean-Pierre will forward us the emails he has received on this matter.
Action: Jean-Pierre
11.2 Impact of Phoenix problems on a retired PIPSC member
Madeleine Lapointe briefly brought up what one retired member has been going through since he retired in May 2016. This member has not yet received his last pay and, when he contacts Human Resources to get answers, they are not able to give him the telephone number of someone who can look at his situation. They tell him that they will call back, but no one does. Madeleine would like to find out from PIPSC how many newly retired members are going through a similar situation.
Action: Élie Ahad
11.3 Delay in posting our last three sets of minutes on the PIPSC website
Élie Ahad pointed out that there was a significant delay in the posting of our previous minutes. The Secretary-Treasurer said that he sent all these documents quickly to the administrative assistant in charge of forwarding them for translation and posting. The administrative assistant recently retired and was replaced by a new employee, which might explain the delay. The Secretary-Treasurer will contact the new employee so that the situation can be resolved as quickly as possible.
Action: Michel Bédard
13.0 Adjournment
Léandre Sévigny, seconded by Guy Michel Lachance, moved that the meeting be adjourned at 3:52 p.m.
Carried unanimously.
Michel Bédard
Secretary-Treasurer
Québec City Chapter, Retired Members Guild
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
April 7, 2017
André Cantin
President’s Signature
Michel Bédard
Secretary-Treasurer’s Signature