It was great to hit the road again as we criss-crossed Québec in search of RCCAQ members in their “natural habitats” as part of our 2022 regional tour! For this grand return of in-person meet-ups, we scheduled five stops in Québec City, Saguenay, Montréal, Laval and Boucherville. VIGILIS, an RCCAQ partner for the past 25 years, accompanied our representatives as we zipped along the highways en route to our next meeting with our broker members.
Getting to see each other again amid a flurry of in-person get-togethers was an excellent reason for staging for this tour. In addition, brokers had a golden opportunity to openly voice the issues and challenges they face in their day-to-day work.
Two-part meetings
Each meeting on the tour was divided into two parts. In the first section, two VIGILIS representatives, Richard and Anthony Desormeau, gave a fascinating presentation that prompted numerous questions. In addition to providing a statistical overview of the current labour market, the VIGILIS team emphasized how important the following factors are to insurance brokerages:
♦ Having a high-performance employee benefits program in place.
♦ Ensuring continuous communication with employees regarding the availability of certain benefits in the in-house program.
♦ Providing employees with a healthy and enjoyable work environment.
♦ Making employees more aware of personal wellbeing, particularly mental health issues and how to deal with them.
They also focused on the essential aspects for retaining employees in 2022, including:
♦ Employee assistance program (EAP), including help for family members.
♦ Online medical services.
♦ Personal health and wellbeing account, including psychological care, dental implants and laser vision correction.
♦ Personal care account, covering course registration, training/cultural activities and sports equipment purchases.
♦ Group savings plan.
The presentation included this memorable quote:
“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” - Robin Williams
Last but not least, the second section of each meeting was led by the RCCAQ’s executive director, Éric Manseau (the Boucherville meeting was led by Brigitte Guay, the RCCAQ’s director of communications and public affairs), who reviewed the RCCAQ’s initiatives over the past year, including victories scored on behalf of brokers. Milestone accomplishments included:
♦ Tax on fees and charges: Thanks to our reaction to Revenu Québec’s notice of assessment, brokers saved millions of dollars!
♦ Bill 3: Thanks to our lobbying, direct access to the Fichier central des sinistres automobiles (provincial auto claims database) was authorized for all brokers. The operating mechanisms are still being finalized, but access for brokers is now legal.
♦ Bill 96: Thanks to our lobbying, contracts may be provided in English only, in certain specific cases. Québec’s new language law was approved on June 1, although it will not take effect for another year. In the meantime, these exceptional cases will be clearly defined in an interpretation guide – in this regard, our lobbying efforts are ongoing.
♦ Optimizing the compliance burden: The RCCAQ submitted a brief to the AMF including dozens of suggestions aimed at optimizing the compliance burden procedures.
♦ Obtaining an MEI grant: After three years of lobbying, the RCCAQ was awarded a $3.7 million grant from Québec’s Ministry of the Economy and Innovation (MEI) under the auspices of its Digital Transformation Offensive. The in-person meetings provided a wonderful opportunity to explain the details of this grant, in particular the RCCAQ’s pivotal role in transforming Québec brokerages into “ideal digital firms”.
♦ Labour issues: The importance of requalifying the broker profession was raised with Québec’s Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity (MTESS) on Parliament Hill Day in Québec City on May 10. In this regard, the RCCAQ had an opportunity to reposition the brokerage sector as an employer of interest amid efforts to address the ongoing labour shortage.
♦ Acquisition of an E&O portfolio: As announced in March 2022, attendees were reminded that RCCAQ Insurance, an RCCAQ subsidiary, acquired the professional liability insurance portfolio formerly held by Pistagnesi-Doyon, an underwriting agency, bringing growth as well as multiple benefits to RCCAQ members.
Other discussions focused on managing incentives so brokerage firms can maintain attractive compensation packages while avoiding conflicts of interest with insurers.
These morning meet-ups also included question and answer sessions. The discussions proved fruitful for brokers as well as for RCCAQ and VIGILIS. The attendees went away satisfied with the responses they obtained and confident about the future.
The RCCAQ and VIGILIS teams were pleased to meet with the RCCAQ’s broker members. The RCCAQ looks forward to seeing its members again next year in various cities across Québec!
