11th Annual Convention

Click on the photo to the left to link to the entire 11th Annual Convention photo gallery.

Click on the image to the left to view President LeBlanc's opening convention address in the "Video Media Room"

The 11th Annual Convention of the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters may have been conducted over 2 ½ days but a tremendous amount of work was accomplished.

The convention provided the backdrop for the OPFFA’s inaugural Strategic Bargaining Session which was held prior to the first official session of the convention.

The bargaining session’s goal was "To better coordinate bargaining efforts province wide to enhance the status of all members and place negotiation committees in a strong position to succeed locally. "

It allowed for the first time a real province-wide focus on bargaining, current and future priorities, as well as the challenges locals face reaching those goals. President LeBlanc facilitated the session where the delegates heard from District Vice President’s who actively assist locals during bargaining, and interest arbitration advocates who provided their perspective on what locals must do to better prepare themselves to be successful locally at the bargaining table.

The delegates were then split into 3 working groups based on local size. This put members from similar or comparable locals from around the province into the same room to answer 4 questions:

Each group then reported back to the general session. There were common priorities in all groups which included; salaries (including recognition pay), benefit improvements, OMERS, and retiree benefits.

With respect to challenges the locals felt they would be facing from the Corporation’s were the introduction of part-time workers, attempts to reduce benefits, and the continued pursuit of management exclusions. Notwithstanding, the overall consensus was that the biggest challenge for local negotiating committees was to deal with membership expectations. It all boiled down to managing priorities.

The OPFFA will now work on contract language and a resource document which will provide easy reference to support our priorities and help counter the challenges facing our locals.

The 11th Annual Convention officially opened upon the conclusion of the strategic bargaining session. During the first session nominations for OPFFA Executive Officers were conducted and set the stage for the election of the OPFFA’s Secretary/Treasurer.

President Fred LeBlanc
Executive Vice President Mark McKinnon
District 1 Vice President Ernie Thorne
District 2 Vice President Chirs Francescone
District 3 Vice President Mike Pauze
District 4 Vice President Terry Colburn
District 5 Vice President Warren Scott
District 6 Vice President Randy Richards
District 7 Vice President Eric Nordlund

The day concluded with the annual memorial service where retired and active members who have passed away since the last convention are recognized. A moving part of the ceremony is the recognition of our members who have died in the line of duty in the past year. A moment of silence was also offered for our military personnel who have been killed in combat.

OPFFA President Fred LeBlanc closed out the first day with his opening address. The President’s remarks focused on events of the past year with special attention on the recent vandalism of the Queen’s Park Fallen Fire Fighters memorial. The President finished his address with remarks and a special tribute to departing Executive Vice President Brian George.

Today was Election Day for the OPFFA S/T position. A very respectful campaign that had been conducted since early April between Carmen Santoro and Barry Quinn had come to close and the ballots were cast between 7:00-10:00 am.

The convention committees spent the morning dealing with resolutions with the second session of the convention beginning by 2:00. The second session opened with the announcement of Barry Quinn as the successful candidate for S/T. The remainder of the afternoon was spent dealing with 14 per capita or financial related resolutions. When the session finished the delegates witnessed a $0.20 reduction in OPFFA per capita.

The day finished with two special guests. First Transportation Minister the Hon. James Bradley addressed the delegates and announced that the OPFFA would be the first partner under the new graphic license plate program. We have long sought to have the IAFF logo available on Ontario license plates and this program gives the OPFFA exclusive rights to this plate for its members.

Our last speakers of the day left quite an impression on everyone. The delegation from the Hero to Hero Campaign were present to speak about the campaign to have Police and Fire Fighters give the shirts off their backs for our military personnel. They collected approximately 300 shirts from across Ontario which was presented to them by the convention delegates. This combined with the shirts collected by the Toronto local earlier in the day brought the campaign half way to their goal of 2,000 shirts. Liz Jackson who represented the delegation gave a unique address by illustrating a US Rangers tradition for those giving speeches. The person gives their address with one had in a bucket of ice water and they can only speak as long as they can leave their hand in the water.

An autographed US army shirt was presented to President LeBlanc along with a limited edition of the Director’s pin from the Hero to Hero campaign.

The final day of convention saw the launch of the OPFFA’s new website. James Coones, Editor of the OPFFA’s Intrepid magazine did a tremendous job totally revamping the website and at the conclusion of James’ presentation to the convention, one delegate described the website in one word - "WOW!"

The convention then moved into its final session with the delegates dealing with the remaining resolutions.

That the OPFFA conduct a one time $10.00 special assessment from all members of the OPFFA to fund any legal costs incurred by OPFFA locals in order to fight such challenges to their Collective Agreements, as and when they may occur.

That the OPFFA Executive Board study all aspects of the President of this Association in conducting his work on our behalf on a full-time basis and this would include but not be limited to, salary and work conditions.

Resolution # 5 - Ottawa PFFA
That the OPFFA investigate the opportunity of the Ministry of Labour employing a member of the OPFFA as a policy advisor or specialist to investigate fire related complaints and serious injuries.

Resolution # 7 Toronto PFFA

That the OPFFA investigate if adding Human Rights language to our Health and Safety Act would be beneficial.

That the OPFFA issue its support for the adoption of the IAFF Executive Board’s Resolution re: Secondary Employment at the 2008 IAFF Convention and that the OPFFA representatives display our support for this resolution during the debate at the 2008 IAFF convention and that all OPFFA locals attending the 2008 IAFF convention be encouraged to support the adoption of this resolution.

That the OPFFA send a clear message to the person or persons responsible that this act of vandalism that we will not be deterred from properly recognizing our Brother and Sister fire fighters who have died in the line of duty at this memorial and,

Be It Further Resolved: That the OPFFA ensure the memorial is fully restored and/or rebuilt to permit the families, members of the fire service, and the public to once again gather at the memorial as a sign of respect and,

Be It Further Resolved: That the OPFFA Executive organizes a fundraising effort to restore and/or rebuild the memorial with the objective to reflect the original design and provides for memorial walls to encompass the expectation of additional names and,

Be It Further Resolved: That this fundraising effort include approaching government, fire service stakeholders, fire service organizations, and all other supporters and,

Be It Further Resolved: That this effort begins immediately at the conclusion of this convention with the goal to have the memorial completed for the 2009 memorial service.

The convention concluded its business on an emotional note with the following resolution.

That the delegates gathered in June, 2008 at the 11th annual OPFFA convention bestow Honourary Life Membership status on Brother Brian George in appreciation for a recognition of Brian’s lifelong dedication to the representation of Ontario’s professional fire fighters.

Past Executive Vice President Brian George who was inducted into a very exclusive club as a Honourary Life Member of the OPFFA was joined by his family and gave a moving speech upon the adoption of the above resolution.

The 11th Annual Convention concluded as traditional with the swearing in of the new OPFFA Executive Officers.

Please note: A complete disposition of all resolutions will be sent to each Local in the coming weeks.

The 12th Annual Convention will take place
in Guelph from June 1- 4, 2009.