News

Bill 88 Information Session in Montreal

We are pleased to provide an information session regarding Bill 88, the Private Security Act, that took effect on July 22, 2010. This session will hosted by Normand Fiset, CANASA Quebec Chapter Past President and Private Security Bureau Board representative. The session will be an informational discussion with a focus on audience questions and answers.

MONTREAL SESSION
When: September 7, 2010
Where: Renaissance Centre des congrès et banquets
             7550, boulevard Henri-Bourassa Est
             Montreal, Quebec H1E 1P2
Time: 5 p.m.
Price: Free for members – $10 for non-members (payable on site)
Registration: Pre-registration required
Coffee and refreshments will be served
                  
Contact: Sylvie Laflamme
Tel.: (514) 990-2349
Toll Free: 1 (800) 537-0774
slaflamme@canasa.org

Quebec National Assembly Tour
Don’t miss this unique opportunity!

SOLD OUT!

We are pleased to offer this exclusive visit to the Quebec National Assemby organized by the Quebec Chapter. The morning will include a visit the to the national assembly, highlighted by a historic account of the security surrounding the building. The event will conclude with a luncheon from noon to 2 p.m. at the very popular restaurant Le Parlementaire. 

When: September 2, 2010
Time: Registration begins 10:30 a.m. (attendees must register before 11 a.m.)
          Tour from 11 a.m. to noon
          Lunch from noon to 2 p.m.
Registration: SOLD OUT!
Contact: Sylvie Laflamme
Tel.: (514) 990-2349
Toll Free: 1 (800) 537-0774
slaflamme@canasa.org

Modifications to the Consumer Protection Act that have an effect on contracts companies use for residential customers

Within the framework of our mandate, CANASA supplies members with models of legal contracts which include residential contracts that have been approved by the OPC (L'Office de la protection du consommateur). Further to the modifications of the law, CANASA has to revise its contract models.
      
At first, the modifications of the Act targeted telecommunications companies, including Internet, cellular phone, and cable TV distributor companies, because their monthly invoice total is often higher than the price offered to the customer.

A short history

In June 2008, the OPC issued a Consultation Document. Towards the end of 2008, certain security companies were contacted by the Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton law firm to answer questions regarding the monetary costs in which the modifications proposed by the OPC could incur on the industry.

In March 2009, CANASA formed a committee comprised of a few security companies and sent a letter to the OPC informing it of our intention to take part in the discussions. Some points, which could affect our members included:

  1. a maximum two-year term for initial contracts;
  2. at the expiry of the first contract, the customer would become billable on a monthly basis;
  3. a letter would have to be sent before the first contract expires to inform the customer and he would have to sign the document to confirm he has read it; and
  4. an increase only at time of renewal without taking into consideration increases by external suppliers such as Bell Canada.

In our opinion, all these modifications could entail exaggerated costs for our members, a 20 per cent potential decline in sales, and an impact on the value of member companies.

Afterwards, we met the OPC representatives to express our concerns and explain the differences between telecommunications companies and our industry’s security companies (more expensive equipment, labour costs (installers), travel expenses, fleet investments, etc.).

It seems that our arguments were heard.

At the end of February 2010, the OPC sent us the contents of Bill 60 adopted in December 2009, asking us to comment (see VF Commentaires de la CANASA—available in French only).

Finally, last April 28, the Bill was published in the Gazette officielle du Québec.

We won on some points but our four model contracts (sales-installation, rental, maintenance and electronic monitoring) will have to be modified. Consequently, during the Board of Directors’ last meeting on May 28, 2010, the Board of Directors voted that members will be charged $149 each to pay the important expenses of the legal transactions with the lawyers and the OPC as well as the cost of modifying the contracts. You will agree that this amount is small compared to what a company would pay to have contracts re-written.

The major changes we need to expect in the new contract include the following:

  1. The possibility of making contracts extend more than 24 months.
  2. Fixed period renewals must be made on a new contract or on a written notice sent to the customer between 60 and 90 days prior to the end of the term, accepted and signed by the customer.
  3. The termination fee is to be established. Instead of the $50 already mentioned in the Bill project, a formula to calculate the real cost of the termination fee must be determined.
  4. Sub-contracting service company costs such as DVACS, GSM etc., must be formulated by listing the subcontracting companies involved. This formulation must be as precise as possible.
  5. The annual indexation based on the Statistics Canada's cost of living index can remain in our contracts.
  6. The renewal clauses present in the current contracts are correct but the termination fee such as it is calculated today in our contracts will no longer apply.

The new regulations will come into effect on July 1, 2010. The residential contracts signed before this date can be based on the former model. On the other hand, at the time of renewal, the new clauses must be applied.

The OPC will grant a grace period to allow all companies to have their contracts modified.

Negotiations in the construction industry

Every three years, the collective agreements for four sectors of construction workers are renegotiated. On the employers' side, the ACQ (Association de la construction du Québec) negotiates for the IC/I (institutional-commercial and industrial) sectors. CANASA is a part of this group because the security system installers employed by our members are considered to be construction workers. Mr. Denis Bouchard, Chairman of our Board of Directors, represents CANASA within the ACQ.

The following is a summary of the latest developments regarding the negotiations.

Negotiations are moving forward at a snail's pace.
Nothing is happening at the negotiation table. The ACQ spokesmen nevertheless consider that the climate still favours dialogue, even though collective agreements were not signed on April 30. We asked the Alliance trade-union representatives to be more open to our demands, but there has been no result so far.

Things have to be set straight!
The unions circulate messages on the construction sites, which do not correspond to reality. According to them, the ACQ does not want to negotiate and it would seem that everything is taking place normally in the civil engineering, roads, and residential sectors. This is totally false. These discussions are also at a standstill and the parties are far from reaching an agreement.

For the past four months, the ACQ did its best to start real negotiations with the unions, who did not show any interest in finding solutions.
The ACQ representatives always want to achieve the same goal—that of rationalization. We are not forgetting the mandate with which you entrusted us in order to make our industry more productive and more competitive.

The ACQ is getting ready for a lockout, which could start on June 25, 2010.
In May, the ACQ went across Quebec to obtain a lockout mandate. The result will soon be known. The lockout allows a party to not abide by the clauses of a collective agreement (for example, pay overtime at time and half rather than at double time). If the ACQ obtains this mandate, it will give the conduct guidelines to the employers, namely what it is necessary to apply or to modify.

The unions are getting ready to strike on July 1, 2010.
If the strike takes place, all the construction sites will be closed. Regarding service, if you are not considered a professional construction employer, you can use people to whom the decree does not apply to make your service calls.

Government could intervene.
Government could adopt a special law allowing present conditions to be maintained, to decide on renewal conditions, etc.

Finally

Update on June 23, 2010: Information in case of a strike provided by the ACQ (available in French only).

For any developments please visit the Association de la construction du Québec site.

Important fiscal changes on July 1, 2010

As announced by Michel Ducharme, CGA, during our last congress conference, we would like to remind you that on July 1, 2010, the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia will harmonize their taxes with the GST. Furthermore, QST rules, which establish when a service is provided thus determining which taxes must be applied to an invoice, will be harmonized with those of the HST. Finally, in Nova Scotia, the HST rate will be increased to 15 per cent.

Enterprises registered for the GST, whether they are located in Quebec or elsewhere, have to make sure that they conform to these new rules to avoid surprises during their next tax examination. If you need information, do not hesitate to contact the CANASA office or your accountant/income tax specialist to obtain all the details concerning these modifications.

The latest news about the Bill 88 bylaw for the private security industry

The Private Security Bureau has obtained a decree from the government permitting all agencies that are subject to the old law (guards, private investigators, patrols etc.) that renew their permits April 1, will need to place their renewal request with the PSB (Private Security Bureau). (Under the old bill, agencies renew their permits on that date.)

This enables the Bureau to generate the first kind of revenue since its creation. We needed to proceed this way or we would have missed out on that important revenue for another year. We would not have been ready to proceed by April 1 with all the other sectors, since there are still a few things, which pertain to education, pre-requisites and other regulations that still need to be ironed out. We hope to be in a better position by July 15 to incorporate the remaining activity sectors (such as electronic security).

The permits for the agents subject to the old law (guards, private investigators, patrols etc.) are still being handled by la Sûreté du Québec, as in the past. These permits renewals are staggered throughout the calendar year, so it wasn’t as critical to get that included in the decree for April 1.

Most of the regulations required to get the bill up and running have been adopted by the Bureau, submitted to the government and ratified. So we are very close to having this bill put in application in its entirety. Some things will not be perfect from the get-go, since we still have a few issues with the bill itself and the way it was worded and planned. We would like those issues to be addressed and modified by the government. Having a bill reopened so soon is unusual, so we will probably have to have a go at it for a few months to see what other issues might come up, and then address all of them at the same time.

The Internet site has been launched. Visit http://www.bureausecuriteprivee.qc.ca to see what has been done so far. The pricing associated to the agency permits are still in relation to the old law, and doesn’t reflect the changes created by the new bill. It will also be available in English very soon.

Do you need more information?
Do you want to know more about the activities of the Private Security Bureau?

Here’s how to contact the Bureau…

By Mail

6363 Transcanada Highway
Suite 201
Saint-Laurent, Quebec
H4T 1Z9

By Telephone

Telephone: (514) 748-7480
Toll Free: (877) 748-7483
Fax: (514) 748-0002

Email: info@bureausecuriteprivee.qc.ca
Web: www.bureausecuriteprivee.qc.ca

Marketing police services in Quebec

You may have heard in the media about SPVM's (Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal) intention of marketing its services in the hopes of profiting from its operations. An article published in the Journal de Montréal was the source of several debates in the private security field. It leaves us wondering: Is this the start of social contract renegotiations between public utilities, the private sector, and the general population? One of the major concerns to both our members and the industry is the use of public funds to unfairly compete against the private sector.

Beyond these concerns, however, the Canadian Security Association (CANASA) upholds its efforts to inform and to educate public services with the aim of maintaining good relations. The safety of Quebec's population rests on tight cooperation between law enforcement services and the private security industry. Under Bill 88, the government recognizes our industry and the essential role it plays for the population.

The private security industry has a unique role and requirements; it necessitates specialized training and has to comply with a myriad of laws and regulations. On several occasions, our association has made presentations that have demonstrated the unmatched nature of services supplied by our members.

A good example was when the City of Montreal Fire Department brought forth the idea of installing a smoke detector in each of the city's residences and monitoring the alarms itself. At the time, CANASA completed presentations to show why the project didn't make sense. Of course, we supported the idea of having better fire protection for Montreal residents, but in the case of a monitoring centre operated by a Fire Department, many questions were raised: What about ULC standards, operator training, and the management of supervision signals and false alarms? More important was the question of insurance responsibility. It is not surprising that our presentations convinced the Fire Department to change their minds.

Furthermore, the judgment rendered in the case of the 1989 Bastogne fire clearly demonstrated that public services have to offer services that take into account all aspects of their work to ensure freedom from civil liability. In that specific situation, the City of Beauport had been proven guilty because it had not adequately maintained its aqueduct and fire hydrant network, thus causing additional losses during the fire.

In short, CANASA continues to represent the industry and wishes to remind public authorities of its complexity, the investments it requires, and that after all, the possibility of an easy profit is only an illusion.