At the close of the nomination period for the three national positions vying for election this year, on August 31, 2020, the three acting officers are appointed by acclamation. They are Stéphane Désautels as National President, Sébastien Fleurant as National Secretary and Pascal Baczyk as National Treasurer.
The National Executive Committee had appointed the three officers on an interim basis to carry out the mandates of their predecessors.
For Stéphane Désautels, he succeeded Mario Poudrier who had decided to retire from the Montreal Engineering Department in mid-mandate. Stéphane arrived on the scene with major issues on the table, namely the decision to renew the Association’s collective agreement for an additional two years. To achieve this, four new agreements were reached with the employer to settle challenging cases (On-Call payments, Script Editors’ status, calculation of the mid-point salary range and enhancement of the salary increases to long-tenured employees). In addition, Stéphane has committed to improving APS communication channels, particularly through the redesign of our website, which will be launched shortly. Previously, he served for several years as Local President of the Montreal Executive Committee as well as a long-standing member of two major committees, the National Joint Committee and the Negotiation Committee.
For the APS’s second-highest-level position, Sébastien Fleurant served on the Montreal Local Executive as well as APS National Executive Committee. He was appointed following the suppression of Daniel Lavigne’s position as Technical Producer in Ottawa, the same Daniel who had succeeded Dominique Barrette. Since his appointment, Sébastien is actively involved as the leader of the Communications Committee currently overseeing the change of directions of APS in terms of branding and its website.
Pascal Baczyk, unlike the other two newly elected Officers, figures as a recent addition to the APS ranks. He succeeds Isabelle Benoit who took over the presidency of the Montreal Local Executive thus succeeding Stéphane Désautels. She marked her stay in the APS’s finances, by implementing the reform of the Association’s investment policies favouring optimal revenue on long-term investments. Pascal, a professional Forensic Accountant, joined APS shortly after he arrived in Canada when he joined the CBC in the Finance Department in Moncton. His appointment as National Treasurer convinced all of the association’s representatives that their decision was a wise choice.
We, therefore, welcome these three acclamation victories that confirm the strength of the team at the helm of the APS.