The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
Log in

 

Executive meeting on September 28, 2020 (6th of the year)

Video conference meeting via Zoom

Start of the meeting: 8:30 a.m.

 

In attendance: Yvon Brodeur, Richard Doyle, Stéphanie Fréchette, Martine Lacroix, Hugo Landry, Réjean Michaud, Benoît Pelletier, Gerlando Renna and Robert Tellier.

Regrets:  Nancy Lavoie and Christian Tremblay.

 

 

  1. Welcoming remarks.

Yvon welcomed everyone and will chair the meeting.

  1. Approval of the agenda.

The agenda was adopted unanimously after some modifications made by Yvon.

  1. Approval of the minutes of September 10, 2020.

The minutes of September 10, 2020 were adopted with some minor modifications.

  1. Matters arising from the minutes of September 10, 2020.

 

  • i) PIPSC 100th Anniversary Project:  Yvon will present 2 quotes from the region. These will be signed by the President:

Yvon informed us that Bruno Lacelle has not yet sent him the draft format of the desired quotes.                                                                    (Action: Yvon)

  • ii) Future Skills Project: The project appears to be of interest with respect to the recognition of union certifications or other training taken by members. However, caution should be exercised with respect to other items that may be included in this project.

Yvon informed us that this subject was not discussed at all during the last Board meeting. Benoît and Stéphanie added that, in their opinion, this project is not part of the resolutions that were submitted for the December 2020 AGM.

  • iii) 2021 Regional Executive Election: The question was raised as to how the elections for the next regional executive, scheduled for May 2021, will be conducted. Do we need to obtain permission from PIPSC before proceeding? Stéphanie will find out how the other regions deal with this topic and will get back to us with the information.

She told us that the other regions will not hold elections in 2020 and that the term of office of those elected is extended until their next Regional Council. Our next elections should be held in May 2021.

  • iv) List of participants: Yvon has forwarded us a list of potential participants who will be invited to take part in PIPSC’s 2020 AGM. Suggestions are requested to fill the remaining places.

Yvon informed us that he sent the official list of the Region to Julie Gagnon.

  • v) Philippe Ouimet proposed to replace PIPSC’s 2 full-time V.P.’s and 2 part-time V.P.’s by 3 full-time V.P.’s. After debating this resolution, we came to the conclusion that we will not sponsor it given the current context (Covid-19); the idea is not bad, but the timing to present it is bad. Hugo will forward our decision to Philippe.

Hugo informed Philippe of our decision. In addition, he informed us that the Atlantic Regional Executive has submitted a resolution to review the structure of the vice-presidencies. The Atlantic resolution will be debated at the AGM.                                   

  • vii) Robert’s resolution regarding face-to-face member meetings in exceptional situations. Robert presented us with the wording of his resolution and we unanimously approved it. He will forward it to Julie Gagnon for discussion at the 2020 AGM.

Robert forwarded it to Julie Gagnon, as planned, and he informed us that the Ontario Region and the CS Group had also presented a resolution on this topic.           

           

  • vii) Recent case law: Valérie Charette suggested that we hold an information session on recent case law, with our delegates, via Zoom. We agree with the project; we suggest that there could be 2 presentations—one during the week and one on the weekend. It was also suggested that the session be offered in English and that these presentations be recorded for later listening by delegates.

Yvon discussed it with Valérie, but she did not come back to him about the final project. Yvon asked if any member of the TEC or the Executive would be interested in accompanying Valérie in these presentations. Hugo expressed his interest.                                                                                                            (Action: Yvon)

  • viii) Normandin Experimental Farm: A member working at Normandin complained about a comment by Yves-François Blanchet (leader of the Bloc Québécois) to the effect that the experimental farm would be an empty shell (according to the title of the article). When we read the reporter’s article, we found that the Farm experience was described positively. Yvon will check with the journalist and/or Yves-François Blanchet to see what the latter really thinks and will get back to us.

Yvon did not receive a call back from Yves-François Blanchet or the reporter. Stéphane Gariépy, member of the Québec Chapter, “briefed” Yvon on this subject.                                                                                                                  (Action: Yvon)

  • ix) Minutes: Benoit reported that the minutes of our 2018 and 2019 executive meetings are not available on PIPSC’s website. Réjean said that he forwarded the minutes of the year 2018 to Anne Renaud, but probably not those of the year 2019. He will check with Anne and follow up.

Réjean forwarded again to Anne Renaud the minutes of the 2018 meeting. He also sent all those of 2019. Anne forwarded them to PIPSC’s translation department and asked that they be posted on our site once the work was completed. The translation department took note of the order, but advised Anne that it was not a priority for them. We will do a follow-up to ensure that the work is done.                               (Action: Réjean)

  • x) PIPSC Calendar of Events: Richard points out that the activities appearing on PIPSC’s website are not up to date and show little recent activity.

Yvon informed us that PIPSC will publish its calendar of activities for the year 2021 before the 2020 AGM, scheduled for December 5.

  • xi) Training for “Social Delegates”: Benoît informed us that he has received a request from Éric D’Amours to present the Social Delegate training to our members virtually. We find it difficult to envision how we could virtually offer this kind of training to our members given the highly interactive nature of our regional training sessions. Benoît will discuss it with Éric D’Amours and will come back to us on this subject.

Benoît wrote to Éric to share our thoughts with him. Following this message, Benoît and Éric did not have the opportunity to talk about it again. They will do so in the next weeks.                                                                                 (Action: Benoit)

                 

  1. BOD Meeting—September 25 and 26, 2020 (follow-up on some points)

 

  1. Model Organization:
  • a) Aboriginal Day: Yvon has sent us a paper written by Robert Macdonald on this subject. We are to send him our comments after reading the document.
  • b) Human Rights Committee Caucus: Yvon also sent us a document written by Jennie Esnard on this topic. We are to send him our comments after reading the document.
  • c) Structure of PIPSC’s Board of Directors: Yvon also forwarded us a document prepared by Steve Hindle on this topic. According to Yvon, none of the Board members asked any questions about this document at their last meeting. Hugo, who had read the document, indicated that there were no proposed changes in the document; findings were noted and questions were raised.

 

  1. Housekeeping:
  • a) PIPSC’s Financial Statements: PIPSC’s Finance Committee presented the financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2020 and a budget for next year to the Board of Directors. This will be officially presented to the membership at the AGM in December 2020.
  • b) TEC — Change: As mentioned at the last meetings, Martine and Robert are no longer interested in representing the Region at the national TEC meetings. Richard represented us at the last TEC meeting and he sent us a report. It summarizes the main points discussed during the meeting. The date for the next national meeting has not yet been set, but Richard is volunteering if his schedule permits.
  • c) The next special meeting is scheduled before October 2, 2020: Yvon said that a special meeting of the Board will be held before the end of the week to discuss a lawsuit filed by an ex-member against PIPSC.
  • d) Code of respect—Board: A code of respect was presented to the members of the Board at their last meeting.

 

  1. Miscellaneous:
  • a) Union salary reimbursement: A round table discussion was held with those who have claimed a salary reimbursement from PIPSC since the beginning of the pandemic. As a general rule, people claim half days or full days depending on the union activities carried out with the required justification.
  1. Round table:
  • a) Réjean said that on Friday, September 18, he attended his first virtual meeting with our FTQ partners regarding the Pension and Insurance Committee. Speaking of this aspect, Réjean reported that a member referred by Richard called him to ask him several questions about retirement and insurance. Réjean invited the other Executive members to refer any member that has questions on this topic to him.
  • b) Hugo said that he attended a virtual training session of the FTQ on balancing private life and telework. He will forward us the audio recording (and possible the video recording) of this training.

                                                                                                          (Action: Hugo)

  • c) Robert will provide a final update on our 2019 finances and will eventually meet with Gerlando to finalize the year 2019. We are currently wondering how much we will request for our annual allocation for next year (2021).

 

10.  Date of the next meeting: Our next executive meeting will follow the next regular meeting of PIPSC’s Board of Directors, which Yvon will attend somewhere in October.

 

11.  Adjournment:

Yvon thanked everyone for their participation and the meeting was adjourned.

 

 

 

Published on 31 March 2021