Latest news with #Jolin-Barrette
Montreal Gazette
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Quebec to appeal court decision recognizing multi-parent families
By Quebec will seek to avoid legal recognition for multi-parent families, Justice Minister and Attorney General Simon Jolin-Barrette has confirmed. Speaking to reporters ahead of question period in the National Assembly on Thursday morning, Jolin-Barrette said Quebec 'made the choice' to limit legally recognized families to two parents and the province would appeal a Superior Court decision striking down that limit. The April 25 judgment ordered the province to amend its Civil Code to allow equal recognition for families with more than two parents. The applicants, whose names are under a publication ban, are three families with three parents each. In his ruling, Justice Andres Garin found that by refusing to legally recognize each parent, Quebec had violated the families' Canadian charter rights to equal protection and benefit of the law. But Jolin-Barrette asserted Thursday that recognizing multi-parent families could harm children. 'Having more than two parents could have important consequences for the child,' he said, including in cases of separation. 'I don't think it's in the interest of the child to have four, five, six, seven, eight parents.' 'I don't remember that referendum,' in which Quebecers chose to exclude multi-parent families from legal recognition, said Mona Greenbaum, founder of the LGBT Family Coalition, an intervener in the legal challenge. Nobody is asking the province to recognize eight parents, Greenbaum said. While the case pertained to families with three parents, she said the organization would like to see a law recognize families with up to four parents, as was done in Ontario. 'It's not a question of whether we should allow these families to exist. They're already here,' she said. Most are made up of a couple and one other person or two couples, she said, though some involve polyamorous relationships. Many include LGBTQ+ parents. When dynamics between the parents are healthy, Greenbaum said legal recognition is less important. 'But sometimes things break down,' she said. In those cases, non-recognized parents can lose the ability to see their children and face no obligation to pay child support. Both issues risk harming their children, she said. 'Our priority is the kids.' Jolin-Barrette said he, too, is acting in the interests of children, and family breakdowns could have more severe consequences when more parents are involved. 'Pretending that you're doing the kids a service by not protecting their families, it's completely wrong,' Greenbaum said, adding that two-parent families also experience separation. 'Maybe we should bar couples' from parental rights, too, she mused. 'Should we do that?' With Quebec now choosing to challenge the case, Greenbaum said she wouldn't be surprised if it eventually lands in the Supreme Court. 'There aren't tons' of multi-parent families in the province, she said, adding that it is difficult to get a clear sense of the number. 'But the government is going to invest quite a lot of money to bring this to appeal. 'While we're waiting for it to get up to that level, these families are unprotected,' she said. The families involved in the challenge 'are very, very disappointed because they feel that they're being discriminated against. And they are.'
Montreal Gazette
17-05-2025
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Freed: A visit to France is a cure for tipaphobia
Quebec has just passed a major tipping point in tax policy: no more tipping allowed on restaurant meal taxes. From now on, when you see a 15, 20 or 50 per cent tip option, it will only be on your food bill, not the GST and QST too, something that has caused many people taxation vexation. So congrats: you'll now save $1.80 on a $100 bill when you tip 15 per cent. In the words of Quebec Justice Minister Jolin-Barrette addressing this historic moment: 'We shouldn't have to feel pressure when we're paying the bill.' But in fact tips on tax-added totals are just a tiny part of the growing psychological pressure we all feel from tipping. I've just returned from a boys' bike trip in France where I realized we Canadians are in a tipping pressure cooker compared to the French and most Europeans. In France, when your restaurant bill appears on the credit card machine, there are never any tip options to choose among. No 15 per cent, no 20, 30 or whatever crazy number they throw at you for fun. Just your bill, so you can tap your card and leave without thinking. If you like the service, you can leave something on the table, generally five or 10 euros. Yet the servers are usually remarkably thankful, offering many 'merci's for your gesture. It's astonishing how stress-free this proves to be, especially given 'tip creep' in North America, where tipping anxiety is practically an official new neurosis — tipaphobia. It's understandable. You roam about a dépanneur serving yourself, then hand the cashier a large carton of beer. He zaps the price in a half-second, then hands you a machine with three suggested tips that would cost you from $6 to $9. In essence, you're tipping him for asking for a tip. Similarly, last week I lined up at a bakery for three chocolate chip cookies, then lined up to pay after the server shouted my name incorrectly. But I was faced with the usual 18 to 25 per cent tip options. I fumbled around with the 'custom tip' button, then guiltily pressed 'no tip' while the server stared at me like a judge at a thief. Meanwhile tips are increasingly requested at drive-thru restaurants, self-serve gas stations and supermarket self-checkouts, where you've scanned and bagged your own groceries, working diligently as a cashier. But now the machine wants a tip, presumably in a robotic voice that says: 'Please place item on tray along with tip. Twenty per cent would be appreciated. I need surgery, for an operating system update.' Expect car salesmen to follow, requesting 20 per cent tips on a $35,000 new vehicle. Then ATMs that say: 'Thanks for choosing to access your funds. Please show your appreciation for this transaction by selecting a tip option.' Once robo-tips become common, my fridge will want a tip for storing my food at the right temperature, while elevators will announce: 'Enjoyed your vertical transportation experience? Consider tipping either 15, 20 or 25 per cent. Otherwise, next time take the stairs.' The real hassles for now are the endless tiny decisions we must make every time we pay, as we ponder the never-ending tip choices facing us. I'm happy to tip waiters well because I worked as one during college and know they work hard for low salaries. But now the machines also harass us to tip everyone from the butcher and baker to the espresso maker — and each occasion requires thought. Did the barista make a tip-worthy latte? Did the cashier serve my baguette with élan? Should I tip more on takeout when I spend more? How much more? All this has a psychological cost, and I didn't know it till my France visit, where the absence of these decisions felt like a mental holiday. French tipping practices are similar in Spain, Italy and much of Europe where waiters are paid properly and a two-euro tip on the table is more than appreciated. But we can't do that here where waiters are (legally) paid less than minimum wage and depend on tips for a living. Quebec's minimum wage is $16.10 but for waiters it's only $12.90, so customers must top up their salaries. Some restaurants here have tried including tips in their prices, but customers rebel. We may say we want the tip included, but when restaurateurs build it into the price as in Europe, we complain. We'd rather choose the tip ourselves, so we can grumble afterward. Adding to the problem is that we used to have tip jars, where we tossed some change at a fast food stand, but who has change anymore? Instead, there's a counter-revolution happening with customers everywhere tipping less, or refusing everywhere but restaurants. We obviously need a tipping rebellion. Just before the American Revolution, Bostonians dumped tea into their harbour, to protest taxation. Maybe it's time we all gathered at the St. Lawrence and threw the newfangled, tip-hungry card machines into the river, shouting 'Give us liberty from tippery, or give us death!' Life is stressful enough, without facing three choices every time you buy a carrot muffin.
CBC
07-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
New rules on pricing, tip calculation take effect in Quebec today. Here's what you can expect
Social Sharing As of May 7, Quebec consumers should be noticing some changes when out doing their grocery shopping or grabbing a bite to eat at a restaurant. That's because new rules surrounding pricing and how tips are calculated come into effect today. In November, Quebec unanimously passed Bill 72. The legislation aims to help Quebecers make the best choices based on their budget and needs by protecting them against abusive commercial practices. Here's a list of what you can expect. Suggested tip calculations Businesses are now required to calculate suggested tips based on the price before tax. For example, suggested tips for a restaurant bill of $100 will be calculated as a percentage of $100, not the after-tax total of $114.98. WATCH | Tip inflation? How Quebec is clamping down: Quebec moves to clamp down on growing 'tip inflation' at restaurants 8 months ago Duration 1:41 Quebec's justice minister has tabled a bill that would require restaurants to calculate tips on prices before taxes to protect cost-weary consumers from misleading tip recommendations. When proposing the changes, Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, who is also the minister responsible for consumer protection, noted that 62 per cent of Canadians reported leaving a higher tip than they had planned because of the options presented at the pay terminal. "We shouldn't have to feel pressure when we're paying the bill," Jolin-Barrette said. "Tipping needs to remain a discretionary choice for consumers." He also stressed the importance of having the correct information to better guide consumer decisions. Some fear the changes will mean lower earnings for staff who rely on tips, but Martin Vézina, vice-president of public affairs at the Quebec Restaurant Association, said it won't have a significant impact on the industry at large. Restaurant owners, he said, might even benefit by paying less in credit card fees on tips, as well as less income tax on declared tips. Compensation for pricing errors As of Wednesday, if an item's advertised price is $15 or less and doesn't match the price scanned at the cash register, consumers in Quebec can potentially get the item for free. That is the case if the scanned price is higher than the price advertised for that item, be it in-store, in an advertisement or a flyer. Merchants will also have to give a $15 discount for inaccurate pricing on items sold for more than $15. "The main thing is that you never have to pay above the advertised price in any situation," said Charles Tanguay, a spokesperson for the Office de la protection du consommateur. The Price Accuracy Policy is not a new regulation. It's been in place since 2001, but until now, the base amount was $10, not $15. WATCH | Pricing errors and your rights as a consumer: How Quebec's updated rules on pricing errors in stores could benefit you 7 minutes ago Duration 2:47 As of May 7, if an item is priced $15 or less and doesn't match what's scanned at the cash register, consumers in Quebec will be able to get the item for free. This used to only apply to items under $10, but the province is making the change to further ensure consumers are charged the advertised price. The increase, Tanguay said, accounts for inflation and is meant to be an incentive for businesses to reduce pricing errors, which he says can amount to disinformation "and can bring a consumer to [make] wrong decisions." There are of course some exceptions. The policy doesn't apply on shoes and clothing, items without barcodes and medication sold exclusively in pharmacies. A full list of exemptions can be found here. Michel Rochette, president of the Quebec branch of the Retail Council of Canada, told CBC News that while the organization agrees with the increase from $10 to $15, it was taken aback by the scope of the new law. It was only recently that the council learned it would also apply to online ads and flyers and "every kind of publicity," which he's worried might lead to confusion. He said sometimes the price in a flyer is different from the price on the website, and prices can also vary from region to region. "If you extend the scope of that bill, you know, recognizing what is the right price to the right store, it could bring a lot of new challenges," Rochette said, adding the council is hoping for clearer guidelines and a more realistic timeline. Clearer price labelling for food The new standards put in place are also meant to make comparing food prices easier for shoppers. Grocery stores and other businesses selling food products are now required to clearly label the regular cost of a product and specify whether items are taxable. When a price is offered for a set of food items, say three lemons for $2.50, and these items can be purchased separately, the unit price must be sufficiently visible compared to the price of the set. "If I buy just one item, how much should I pay? I don't want to know necessarily how much is three items if I just want one," Tanguay said. Items that are on sale must also show the regular price.
