LAWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Employment Benefits

Jul 28: Retraite Québec (RQ) announced that the retirement pension supplement under the Québec Pension Plan (QPP) will be calculated later than scheduled, that is, from the end of July to the end of October. RQ will send beneficiaries notice of changes when it does the calculation followed by payment of entitled amounts since January 1.

Action Point: Find out about the perils of poor pension plan governance and how to avoid them.

New Laws

Aug 5: The federal First and Last Mile Fund announced a nearly $5-million investment in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region to help advance infrastructure for critical minerals development in Québec. The money will go to First Phosphate’s Bégin–Lamarche phosphate mine. Québec accounts for nearly one-fifth of Canada’s mineral production.

New Laws

Jul 30: The Government of Canada announced an investment of $70 million from the Strategic Response Fund to support Volta Energy Solutions Canada Inc.’s $760.9 million project to upgrade and expand an acquired facility to produce copper foil for battery cells used in electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems (ESS). Expected to create 260 new jobs, and the facility will have an anticipated production capacity of 25,000 tonnes of copper foil per year starting in 2027, with plans to scale up to a total of 63,000 tonnes.

New Laws

Jul 20: A new draft agreement between the federal government and Québec would establish a “one project, one review” approach for environmental assessment of major projects in Quebec. Result: Developers involved in projects raising environmental concerns under federal and provincial laws will have to undergo a single review rather than seek separate approvals from each jurisdiction.

New Laws

Jul 1: Newly effective Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) financial regulations ban automobile, recreational vehicle, and leisure vehicle dealerships in Québec from offering life, health, and job loss insurance for a debtor (“loan insurance”) to the public.  replacement insurance. Effective January 1, 2027, dealerships will also no longer be allowed to offer replacement insurance protecting against the rapid depreciation of a new vehicle.

CASES

Leave of Absence: Paid Bereavement Covers Post-Funeral Family Gathering

On Saturday, a hospital pharmacist learned that her mother in Morocco had died that morning. In accordance with Muslim funeral rites, the burial took place that evening with the following days devoted to mourning at the family residence. On Monday, the pharmacist asked for the next three days off as paid bereavement leave. The hospital approved the request but treated the time off as unpaid absences citing the collective agreement provision providing for paid bereavement leave for the days between a relative’s death and the “funeral,” which had already taken place. The Québec arbitrator upheld the union’s grievance, interpreting the concept “funeral” broadly as encompassing not just burial rites but also “the structured and organized gathering, taking place within a specific timeframe, the purpose of which is, in particular, to allow family members, loved ones, and the community to offer their condolences and pay their last respects to the deceased” [Québec Union of Service Employees, Local 298 (FTQ) v. Marie-Clarac Hospital, 2026 CanLII 83610 (QC SAT), August 10, 2026].

Action Point: Find out how to implement a Bereavement Leave Compliance Game Plan at your workplace.

Termination: OK to Fire Brink’s Driver for Urinating in Armored Car & Then Lying About It

Did a Brink’s driver deserve to be fired for urinating inside an armored car while on duty? The union said no arguing that the driver did what he did at the end of his shift when his bladder was full and he couldn’t leave the car for security reasons. The company countered that he could’ve left the truck for a while provided that at least one occupant stayed behind. Instead, he relieved himself in the back of the vehicle without cleaning up the mess or telling his co-workers and falsely denying his actions to the investigator appointed to look into the cause of the suspicious smell. The Québec arbitrator ruled the driver’s dishonesty and “complete lack of respect for his teammate, his coworkers, and the company” irrevocably destroyed the company’s trust and constituted just cause to terminate [Unifor, Section Locale 698 c Brink’s Canada Limitée, 2026 CanLII 80487 (QC SAT), August 4, 2026].

Action Point: Find out when lying is and is not just cause for termination.

Discipline: Missing Emergency Call Is Just Cause to Suspend Firefighter for Three Days

A firefighter on duty during the hours of 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. on the night of a major ice storm decided to go to bed at 1 a.m. As a result, he missed an emergency call and his crew responded without him. For his transgression, the firefighter received a three-day suspension. The union claimed the penalty was unfair especially since there were intervening factors that may have caused the firefighter to miss the call, including cumulative fatigue, the ambient noise caused by the storm, and the possibility that somebody reduced the volume of the loudspeaker in the cot room where he was sleeping. But the Québec arbitrator upheld the suspension as reasonable given the seriousness of the offence, which even the firefighter admitted was “unacceptable” [Quebec Firefighters Union, Blainville Local – CUPE-7114 v. Blainville (City), 2026 CanLII 74732 (QC SAT), July 24, 2026].