Chris Lowrey
PONTIAC Sept. 19, 2018
MRC Pontiac Warden Jane Toller has been accused of threatening an employee at her private business with demotion or dismissal if the employee ran for elected office.
The revelations were made public in a news report by local radio station CHIP FM. The radio station identified the employee as Jessica Bérard, which Toller later confirmed.
Bérard declined to comment for this story.
On July 10, the Outaouais regional association of the New Democratic Party of Quebec (NDPQ) published an open letter on its Facebook page accusing a local business owner of threatening an employee with demotion or dismissal if she ran in the upcoming provincial election.
The letter, titled “Real barriers to political participation,” did not name Toller specifically.
It was signed by seven of the party’s members, including Bérard and the candidate in the Pontiac riding – Samuel Gendron.
After the council of mayors meeting on Sept. 17, Toller said that Bérard first started working at her business, the Spruceholme Inn in Fort Coulonge, in a “semi-management, semi-event planning” role in 2017.
“She was a server and she assisted [the manager,]” Toller said.
Bérard eventually left in September of 2017 to go back to university.
In May of this year, Toller said Bérard applied to work at the Spruceholme Inn once again. The establishment needed a full-time manager after the previous one left in October of 2017 and a number of people hadn’t worked out for the position.
“When [Bérard] offered to come and work for the summer, I thought this would perhaps be a good solution,” Toller said. “At least for a few months.”
Toller says that a few days later, Bérard informed her of her intentions to run in the upcoming provincial election for the New Democratic Party of Quebec.
“When she spoke to me about the job, she did not tell me that she had plans to run politically,” Toller said. “If she had told me right then and there, I would not have offered her the job because it’s a very time-consuming job that is, many weeks, seven days a week.”
Toller was concerned that her newly-hired employee wasn’t going to be able to fulfill her duties.
“If she wanted to run in the election, then she wouldn’t have time to campaign because I would expect her to be there all the time,” Toller said. “So, what I did was I offered her another job.”
Toller said that instead of the manager position, she offered Bérard a server position.
“I said, ‘If this is important to you, then perhaps if you need money I can offer you the server job,’” Toller said.
When asked if that amounted to a demotion, Toller said it didn’t.
“No,” Toller said. “She was going to make the exact same amount.”
Toller then cast doubt on how employed Bérard was in the first
place.
“In 2018, she worked a couple of days, period,” Toller said. “And then I found out she was planning to run politically and I offered her another job, and then she quit.”
“She hadn’t ever really assumed the role,” Toller added. “Fortunately, I found out about her plans early enough that I simply changed my mind and felt she was not going to be able to do the job.”
The NDPQ’s open letter also said that Bérard resigned her position and has given up on running for office.
Toller said that there was no employment contract signed between Bérard and herself.
The Quebec Election Act says in section 248 that “every employer shall, upon written request, grant a leave without pay to an employee who is a candidate or intends to become one.”
Section 254 of the Quebec Elections Act says that employers do not have the right to “dismiss, lay off, suspend, demote or transfer an employee,” who asks for a leave of absence to run for office.
But Toller said that Bérard never asked for a leave of absence, which makes it unclear if the warden could face any repercussions.
Despite repeated attempts, representatives from the province’s Administrative Labour Tribunal – which is charged with enforcing the Labour Code – could not provide comment.
“I didn’t deny her a leave of absence,” Toller said. “She wanted to do the job and be paid as a full-time manager and campaign on the side.”
Toller also said that she was worried that her place of business would have been turned into a “campaign office.”
“In my opinion, what’s at the heart of this is an angry, disgruntled employee,” Toller said.