The Council's 2011 Activity Report: A highly positive performance leading to many tangible gains for Quebec employers

MONTREAL, April 23, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Quebec Employers Council president Yves-Thomas Dorval used the opportunity of the organization's annual general meeting today to unveil its 2011 Activity Report and provide an account of the Council's activities and the results obtained over the last several months. While the last year has been especially active and successful in the business community, employers will have to display as much solidarity as ever to effectively meet the many challenges they will have to deal with in the near future.

"In the last year, the Employers Council has intervened with various authorities and on many speaking forums - frequently with its employer, and even union partners - to propose new avenues of constructive and pragmatic solutions aimed at fostering the best possible conditions to enable Québec to sustainably prosper in a global- competiveness context," stated Mr. Dorval. "Québec employers can take pride in their essential contribution to the major debates that have aroused Québec's society over the last several months. They have shown that their efforts are steadfastly geared toward finding beneficial solutions for the Québec population as a whole."

Some of the many matters that mobilized the Employers Council in 2001-2012 and contributed significantly in producing tangible gains for employers included:

• The elimination of union placement and the reform of the labour relations system in the construction industry;
• the extension of relief measures for defined benefit pension plans and the creation of a committee of experts (D'Amours committee) on the future of supplemental pension plans;
• maintaining the schedule for the return to a balanced budget, both in Québec and Ottawa, and tighter control on the increase in public spending;
• the quick resolution to the labour dispute at Canada Post;
• the federal government's announcement of the replacing of the Champlain Bridge.

Many key issues for the business community in 2012

Beyond the outstanding results, the Employers Council intends to redouble its efforts over the course of 2012 to vigorously and strongly intervene on issues that will have a major impact on employers and Québec society, in both the short and long term. The Council will thus be closely following several key dossiers, including:

• Bill 60, an act to modernize Québec's occupational health and safety plan;
• the modification of the legislative and regulatory structure surrounding defined benefit pension plans;
• follow-ups on the National Assembly Committee on the Economy and Labour report on the provisions of the Labour Code banning the use of replacement workers during a labour dispute and the reform of the labour relations system;
• the reorganization of financial aid to businesses;
• the control of spiralling taxes on payrolls;
• follow-up on the commitments undertaken in June 2011 at the Forum on training-job adequacy;
• the funding of universities and financial accessibility to university studies;
• the francization of businesses, mainly in conjunction with a joint project with the Office québécois de la langue française to promote the French language among employers.

"Faced with the many challenges the entire business community will have to deal with in the coming years, employers will have to mobilize more than ever to ensure their voice is heard by governments and the general public," remarked Mr. Dorval. "This is why, once the required conditions are combined, the Employers Council, intends to move forward with its Prosperity Campaign, launched last year, to promote a more favourable climate for the creation of wealth by the business community and thereby generate a prosperity which will be beneficial to all Quebecers."

The Quebec Employers Council 2011 Activity Report is available on the Council's website (www.cpq.qc.ca).

The Quebec Employers Council brings together many of Québec's largest companies and the vast majority of sector-based employers' groups, making it Québec's sole employer federation.

Patrick Lemieux    
Consultant - Communications
Cell. : 438 886 9804