MONTREAL – A Montreal-based boycott of the World Police and Fire Games has expanded to include police officers from across the country, it was announced Tuesday.
The Games, set to be held in Montreal in the summer of 2017, normally draw thousands of police officers, firefighters, customs officials and corrections officers from around the world to compete in over 65 sporting events.
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The anticipated financial windfall for Montreal – about $100 million in tourism – could take a major hit as the Canadian Police Association joined the Montreal Police Brotherhood in boycotting the event.
Tom Stamatakis, president of the national union representing 60,000 police officers, said joining the boycott was a unanimous decision.
The Montreal Police Brotherhood is refusing to attend the event or support any competitors financially as the battle over pension reform rages on between the provincial and municipal governments and the union.
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre has strongly supported the provincial pension reform law, known as Bill 15, which municipal unions say denies members their right to collective bargaining.
“I anticipate that we will get full participation [in the boycott] from all of our members, given the context,” said Stamatakis.
The national union said it will not commit to sponsorships or any other form of financial support for competitors in the Games and any funding already committed at this point will be pulled.
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Individuals may still choose to show up and compete on their own dime, Stamatakis noted, but are unlikely to do so.
“On behalf of all of the members that I represent … I just think that it’s outrageous that what’s happening in Montreal is being allowed to happen,” he said.
“There have been pension issues in many other provinces in this country, lots of issues around other benefits, and those have been successfully resolved through negotiation between the parties.”
Yves Francoeur, president of the Montreal Police Brotherhood, said efforts to reopen talks over the pension reforms have been shut down at every turn by Coderre.
“The message we’re sending him is that we’ve tried to negotiate in good faith several times,” Francoeur said.
“The decision we made to solicit the national association for this boycott was not taken lightly … we’ll see how the municipal administration will react.”
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