The Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, will finally present to parliament on Wednesday her reform of the laws on the status of the artist. The cultural community, which has been calling for this overhaul for four years, has great hopes, but many now fear that the bill will die on the order paper before the election.
Minister Roy could notably announce that the two laws that have governed the working conditions of artists since the end of the 1980s will be merged into a single piece of legislation. Thus, authors would benefit from the same framework as actors and singers to negotiate their contract with their publisher: a long-standing request from the Union of Quebec Writers and Writers (UNEQ).
“Concretely, it would allow us as a union to collectively negotiate minimum conditions. This would save each writer from having to negotiate their contract alone with their publisher. It would be historic, because at the moment, no writer is in a position to negotiate a contract that makes sense in the face of publishing houses that are getting bigger and bigger,” explains the general manager of the association. professional, Laurent Dubois.
According to our information, the bill does indeed provide for legislative adjustments to improve the working conditions of writers. The reform of the status of the artist would also incorporate new provisions concerning harassment in the workplace.
This is one of the main demands of the Union of Artists (UDA). Because at present, only artists who are employees benefit from the protections provided by the Labor Standards Act about psychological harassment. However, very few artists enjoy this professional status, the vast majority being contract workers.
Longer than expected
Other changes are to be expected in this bill, and some of them have been expected for several years, even decades. In the National Assembly, there has been talk of a major reform of the laws on the status of the artist since at least 2010, when the former mayor of Quebec and ex-minister of Culture, Jean-Paul L’Allier published a report on this.
During the last elections in 2018, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) made it a campaign promise, but ultimately tabling a bill will have taken longer than expected, stirring up impatience within the cultural community. In the entourage of Nathalie Roy, it is said that the pandemic has a lot to do with it, which however doubts the liberal critic in matters of Culture, Christine St-Pierre.
“The pandemic has a broad back, a law can be easily done by teleworking. I think that in reality, we have progressed very slowly, ”denounced the member for Acadie. “It’s easy to introduce a bill just before an election and brag that the promise has been kept. But I think that we could very well have adopted a law before the elections if the government had tabled it sooner. »
Six weeks before the end of the parliamentary session, Christine St-Pierre would be surprised that the bill could be adopted before the start of the election campaign. Above all, she hopes that the reform to be tabled on Wednesday is solid enough for the next government to take inspiration from it and table a bill quickly after the elections. This is what allowed, among other things, the adoption in 2014 of the Act respecting end-of-life care, despite the change of party in power a few weeks earlier.
On the side of Québec solidaire, Catherine Dorion says she maintains “a glimmer of hope” that the reform will be voted on by the deputies before the ballot on October 3. For this, it calls for the collaboration of all. “Let’s study this bill quickly. The oppositions and the organizations will cooperate fully. Even if the bill is not perfect, we will be able to make concessions. But it is absolutely necessary to solve this problem as quickly as possible so that it is not yet postponed to the Greek calendars, “said the MP for Taschereau in an interview with the To have to.