My name is Jocelyn Dumais, and I am a construction contractor in the Ottawa area. I live in Quebec.
October 19, 2001 is a little-known date on which the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Advance Cutting & Coring case, stating that the freedom to belong to a union also meant the freedom not to belong to one.
I am familiar with the case because I am the one who led the charge from start to finish. And oddly enough, today my company cannot bid on certain federal government contracts. It would seem that the federal government either does not respect or does not understand the decision issued by 8 out of the 9 justices on the Supreme Court of Canada: no one can be forced to associate.
In 2013, I am still excluded from certain construction projects because the federal government does not respect that decision. Something is wrong. It is important to note that we challenged the constitutionality of Quebec's act respecting labour relations in the construction industry. Pursuant to that act, all workers in Quebec must belong to a union.
As I said, the decision was rendered on October 19, 2001, but still today, between 20 and 40 people a week are brought up on charges before the Gatineau courts. Why? Because they worked or dared to work without the necessary papers—and this document proves it. I have been documenting the phenomenon for a year. It happens every week.
Mr. Coderre might notice that the number of people appearing at the Montreal courthouse exceeds 20 or 40. The cost of the justice system might be more reasonable if time wasn't wasted on convicting people because they dared to work. We talk about bringing foreigners here to work, but we're imposing $200, $500 and $800 fines on people who are already working here, simply because they are not unionized. That's a common occurrence.
Last week, I believe, Mr. Coulombe was defending Quebec's system, saying that everything was fine. I have no choice but to object. There are too many injustices in this industry. I say yes to freedom of association, yes to the freedom to organize, but that should also mean I have the right to bid on the contracts of my federal government without being forced to belong to a union.
Some large companies have reached agreements with unions. They have no choice: the agreements are signed. Take the company PCL for example. It signed an agreement with a number of central labour bodies and is under obligation to hire unionized contractors. The federal government should object to that and award contracts to non-unionized shops or ones that do not force their members to belong to a union.
There's a cost attached to this. Workers receive benefits that could be provided in other ways. The cost for each employee is about 20%. We sent our armed forces overseas to fight for freedom, but what about here, in Canada? We are forcing people to unionize, and when they don't want to, it's off to court with them and, in some cases, jail.
Is that what passes for justice in Canada? Is that why I spent 10 years fighting? In 2001, the justices on the Supreme Court of Canada sided with me, but in 2013, a decision was apparently made to disregard that ruling and to keep doing the same thing. That's not justice. What I want is the right, like any other unionized contractor, to work on federal construction projects, because those are Canadians' and my tax dollars at work. I want all of my employees to be able to benefit from them. And that isn't the case now.
Thank you.