Act respecting collective agreement decrees applied by parity committees: a uniquely Quebec burden in North America
The Act Respecting Collective Agreement Decrees applied by parity committees came into force on April 20th, 1934.
The Act respecting collective agreement decrees applied by parity committees
The Act Respecting Collective Agreement Decrees (ARCAD) allows the working conditions negotiated by a group of employers and unions to be imposed on an entire sector — which may be regional in scope. When this law was adopted in 1934, labour protection laws did not exist. Today, Quebec is one of the jurisdictions in North America with the most generous social safety net.
This regulatory framework imposes a significant administrative burden, a sector-specific payroll tax, a loss of flexibility, and unfair competition between SMEs that are subject to the decree and those that are not. According to our estimates, this unique regime — which affects approximately 10,000 businesses — creates an annual burden of $47 million.
This system is currently facing a crisis of confidence among affected businesses and does not reflect the principles of sound governance. The parity committees that enforce this regulation are not subject to the Act Respecting the Citizen’s Protector or the Access to Information Act. Moreover, these parity committees are made up of employers and unions — meaning that those who impose the regulations are both judge and party, raising serious concerns about impartiality.
According to a CFIB survey, the primary demand from businesses subject to the decree is simply to abolish the Act altogether. This is exactly what CFIB is calling for.
Our position
CFIB urges the government to abolish the Act respecting collective agreement decrees applied by parity committees. Not only does it harm SMEs’ competitiveness, it creates inequalities between businesses and grants excessive power to parity committees which lack transparency.
Sign our petition against red tape
Quebec is the only province with several burdensome, province-specific rules — such as the Act Respecting Collective Agreement Decrees.
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- Brief
Consultation publique portant sur le projet de loi no° 101, Loi visant l’amélioration de certaines lois du travail, May 2025 (in French only) - Case study
Loi sur les décrets de convention collective : un fardeau important pour nos entreprises aujourd’hui, October 2024 (in French only) - Report
Loi sur les décrets de convention collective : crise de confiance et de légitimité pour les PME assujetties, September 2023 (in French only)
Media Centre:
- PL 101 : de bonnes mesures proposées par le ministre Boulet, mais encore une occasion manquée d’abolir la LDCC: May 30, 2025 (in French only)
- Adoption du projet de loi 85 : une action qui fait une différence pour les PME: April 9, 2025 (in French only)
- La FCEI appuie le PL 89 et demande au ministre Boulet de compléter son travail: March 18, 2025 (in French only)
- Réaction de la FCEI au dépôt du projet de loi 89, Loi visant à considérer davantage les besoins de la population en cas de grève ou de lockout: February 19, 2025 (in French only)
- Projet de loi 85 : des allègements réglementaires qui vont augmenter la productivité des PME: February 11, 2025 (in French only)
- Crise de gouvernance et de légitimité : les entrepreneurs souhaitent en finir avec la Loi sur les décrets de convention collective: October 21, 2024 (in French only)
- Projet de loi 17 : le gouvernement ouvre la voie pour redonner du temps aux entrepreneurs: October 25, 2023 (in French only)
- Loi sur les décrets de convention collective : 1 500 pétitions pour l’abolir ont été déposées à Jean Boulet, ministre du Travail: October 3, 2023 (in French only)
- Projet de loi 17 : des mesures prometteuses pour les PME du Québec: September 20, 2023 (in French only)
- Loi sur les décrets de convention collective : un système opaque datant d’un autre siècle, qui n’a plus sa raison d’être: September 19, 2023 (in French only)
- Réforme de la gouvernance des comités paritaires : une couche de peinture sur une fondation fissurée, selon la FCEI: May 18, 2022 (in French only)
Description of the LDCC from LégisQuébec
LégisQuébec is the Quebec government’s official site where all laws and regulations in effect in the province can be viewed.
Through LégisQuébec, you can:
- View the provisions of official Quebec laws and regulations (e.g., Labour Code, ARCAD)
- View current and previous versions
- Monitor legislative changes over time
- Search for sections/provisions by key word, chapter, title of the law, etc.
This directory (in French only) lists the following for every parity committee in Quebec: the title of the applicable decree, the contact information for the head of the committee, and the applicable territory.
CFIB’s Key Efforts Regarding the ARCAD
June 25, 2026
CFIB sent a letter to the Minister of Labour, Jean Boulet, and to the Minister responsible for Government Administration and State Efficiency and President of the Treasury Board, France-Élaine Duranceau, requesting that all public contracts be amended to include the changes imposed by collective agreement decrees that result in additional costs for businesses subject to the Act.
May 14, 2026
CFIB sent all parties nearly 10,000 signed petitions from Quebec small business owners calling on the government to reduce red tape for SMEs, including by eliminating the Act respecting collective agreement decrees.
April 1, 2026
Bill 27, An Act to amend various provisions concerning collective agreement decrees and the construction industry, was introduced. CFIB responded immediately, criticizing the government for amending the Act respecting collective agreement decrees rather than eliminating it. Ultimately, the bill died on the Order Paper.
April 1, 2026
CFIB gave a press conference with members to call out Quebec-specific regulations, including the Act respecting collective agreement decrees.
February 14, 2026
CFIB submitted a brief as part of the pre-budget consultations. During a meeting between Quebec’s finance minister and employers’ organizations, CFIB presented its members’ pre-budget demands, including eliminating the Act respecting collective agreement decrees.
February 2, 2026
CFIB submitted a brief as part of the special consultations on Bill 11, An Act to amend various provisions for the main purpose of reducing regulatory and administrative burden. In a parliamentary committee, CFIB presented several recommendations to meaningfully reduce the administrative and regulatory burden on SMEs, including abolishing the Act respecting collective agreement decrees.
January 15, 2026
CFIB met with the Minister of Labour, Jean Boulet, to hand him 53 new complaints regarding the Act respecting collective agreement decrees and parity committees. This brought the total number of complaints submitted since the start of our campaign in September to 565.
November 26, 2025
CFIB submitted a brief as part of the special consultations on Bill 3, An Act to improve the transparency, governance and democratic process of various associations in the workplace. In a parliamentary committee, CFIB urged the government to abolish the Act respecting collective agreement decrees, emphasizing that it goes against principles of transparency and good governance. Watch us in action (in French only).
November 25, 2025
CFIB posted a video on the Act respecting collective agreement decrees (in French only) on its social media channels to highlight the Act’s shortcomings and the benefits of eliminating it.
November 6, 2025
CFIB sent Quebec’s Minister of Labour, Jean Boulet, 181 complaints from small business owners about the costs, red tape, and inequity of this system, which is unlike any other in North America.
November 3, 2025
The Regroupement des jeunes chambres de commerce du Québec supported CFIB’s calls to eliminate the Act respecting collective agreement decrees.
October 27, 2025
CFIB met with the Parti Québécois and the Quebec Liberal Party to discuss potential options to eliminate the Act respecting collective agreement decrees.
September 11, 2025
CFIB sent the Minister of Labour, Jean Boulet, 211 complaints from small business owners about the costs, red tape, and inequity of this system, which is unlike any other in North America.
August 7, 2025
Les Affaires published an op-ed by François Vincent, CFIB’s Vice-President, Quebec, calling on the government to finally abolish the Act respecting collective agreement decrees, an outdated system that imposes an annual regulatory burden of $47 million on 10,000 SMEs.
August 7, 2025
CFIB launched a web page dedicated to the Act respecting collective agreement decrees, where you can find our position, a link to our petition, and the work we’ve done on this file since 2020.
June 25, 2025
We met with Labour Minister Jean Boulet.
June 11, 2025
The Comité-conseil sur l’allègement réglementaire et administratif, co-chaired by François Vincent, Vice-President, Quebec at CFIB, met and discussed the need to have the ARCAD repealed as part of the next omnibus bill planned in the fall of 2025.
May 29, 2025
CFIB filed a brief as part of public consultations on Bill 101, an Act to improve certain labour laws. In the Parliamentary Committee, we urged the government to amend Bill 101 in order to eliminate the ARCAD and align Quebec’s legal framework with that of other North American jurisdictions. See us in action (in French only).
March 27, 2025
We submitted 2 critical analyses on the ARCAD to Labour Minister Jean Boulet and Minister for the Economy Christopher Skeete, as well as a formal request to have the ARCAD eliminated.
March 17, 2025
CFIB filed a brief as part of public consultations on Bill 89, An Act to give greater consideration to the needs of the population in the event of a strike or a lock-out. In Parliamentary Committee, we drew attention to the crisis of confidence and governance related to the ARCAD. See us in action (in French only).
March 12, 2025
We carried out an economic analysis of ARCAD-related costs for businesses that are subject to collective agreement decrees in Quebec, based on a survey we conducted from February 28 to March 10, 2025.
February 7, 2025
CFIB filed a brief as part of private consultations on Bill 85, an Act to amend various provisions for the main purpose of reducing regulatory and administrative burden. In Parliamentary Committee, CFIB recommended the government use Bill 85 as an opportunity to repeal the ARCAD. See us in action (in French only).
November 29, 2024
We sent a letter to Labour Minister Jean Boulet requesting access to information about the board members of all parity committees over the past 25 years.
October 11, 2024
We met with Labour Minister Jean Boulet to share the results of our case study.
October 2, 2024
We sent a case study to Labour Minister Jean Boulet which presents the perspectives of small business owners who are subject to various collective agreement decrees.
April 29, 2024
We sent a letter to Quebec’s Auditor General Guylaine Leclerc to request a thorough review of the use of funds collected by parity committees under the ARCAD.
November 2, 2023
We met virtually with the Competition Bureau to discuss our members’ concerns about parity committees and their use of the ARCAD.
October 3, 2023
We submitted the 1,500 petitions signed by our members urging the government to abolish the ARCAD to Labour Minister Jean Boulet.
September 25, 2023
We sent a letter to the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, to share our concerns about the ARCAD being used to create unfair competition.
September 20, 2023
We submitted the 1,500 petitions signed by our members who are subject to the ARCAD and to parity committees during a hearing about Bill 17 before the Assemblée nationale.
September 19, 2023
We released our report on the ARCAD.
September 7, 2023
We sent a letter to Labour Minister Jean Boulet requesting access to the documentation from his Department’s investigation on parity committees.
September 1, 2023
We met with Labour Minister Jean Boulet.
February 27, 2023
We met with Labour Minister Jean Boulet and handed him the 1,247 petitions signed by small business owners subject to the ARCAD.
November 25, 2022
We met with Labour Minister Jean Boulet.
November 7, 2022
We sent a survey on parity committees to our members who are subject to the ARCAD.
September 28, 2022
We put out a petition about the ARCAD as applied by parity committees.
May 18, 2022
Parity committee governance reform: a temporary fix, according to CFIB.
January 10, 2022
We met virtually with Revenu Québec to discuss the administrative and financial burdens related to parity committee fees.
December 6, 2021
We met with Labour Minister Jean Boulet.
April 22, 2021
We emailed a petition to our members who are subject to the ARCAD.
January 15, 2021
We sent a letter to Labour Minister Jean Boulet, urging the government to eliminate the ARCAD or set up a major consultation with businesses that are subject to it.
July 21, 2020
We sent a letter to Labour Minister Jean Boulet about proposed amendments to the Decree respecting the automotive services industry in the Arthabaska, Granby, Sherbrooke and Thetford Mines regions.
June 30, 2020
The Decree respecting hairdressers in the Outaouais region was eliminated, finally freeing small businesses from outdated regulations.
April 2, 2020
We sent a letter to the Labour Minister requesting that the Decree respecting hairdressers in the Outaouais region be eliminated.
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