Montreal's World Police and Fire Games in jeopardy as boycott grows

The Canadian Police Association is joining the Montreal Police Brotherhood and firefighters around the world in boycotting The World Police and Fire Games, scheduled to take place in Montreal in 2017.

• Firefighters boycotting 2017 World Firefighters Games in Montreal
• Quebec's controversial pension reform passes into law

The 60,000 members of the CanadianPoliceAssociation arestanding with theirMontreal colleagues againstthe contentious law passed in December 2014whichcaps the cost of pension plans and retroactively requires municipal employees to contribute half their cost.

The national police association's president, Tom Stamatakis, said the Quebec law undermines basic labour rights.

"The decision of the board of directors was unanimous," Stamatakis said Tuesday.

"We have 28 representatives from coasttocoast, and the message they will go back to their members with is that we will support our colleagues in Montreal."

The decision to boycott the games came last year,in response to Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre's support for the pension reform law, which municipal unions say denies memberstheir right to free collective bargaining.

Coderrehasbrushed off any discussion of the plannedboycott, saying last summer thateveryoneshould focus onsportsinstead of the labour dispute.

The head of the Montreal Police Brotherhood, Yves Francoeur, said that the union has approached the city to reopen talks about the legislationmanytimes, even as recently as late2015.

He said the meetings seemed fruitful, but nothing came of them.

Global reach

Stamatakissaidthe games are a major sporting event which usually attract10,000 participants from around the world.

• Australian firefighters to boycott Montreal police and fire games

In February, thousands of Australian firefighters decided to boycott the games in solidarity with the Montreal police and firefighters.