FAQ: What is the College Employer Council?

Updated March 10, 2022

Q: What is the College Employer Council?

A: Ontario law empowers the College Employer Council (CEC) to bargain on behalf of colleges.  These powers are found in the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA) which sets out the bargaining process. The latest iteration of the CEC was triggered by this language in the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Act:

7.1 (1) A corporation without share capital is established under the name College Employer Council in English and Conseil des employeurs des collèges in French and is composed of the members of its board of directors.  2008, c. 15, s. 87 (1).

Prior to the 2008 changes to the CCBA, the CEC was previously known as the Colleges Compensation and Appointments Council. Before that, it was the Council of Regents.

Q: Who governs the CEC?

A: The Directors of the CEC are the 24 College Presidents, the 24 Chairs of College Boards of Governors, and its CEO Graham Lloyd. (There were 4 former Chairs and 5 former Presidents listed on the Ontario corporate registry; we believe that to be an error.)

The College Presidents and the Boards of Governors can’t simply blame the CEC for what is going on: they are the CEC.

The following list of CEC Directors was compiled by members of Local 558:

NAME	TITLE	COLLEGE
ADAMSON, MAUREEN	PRESIDENT	FLEMING COLLEGE
AGNEW, DAVID	PRESIDENT	SENECA COLLEGE
AMBEAULT, THOM	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	SAULT COLLEGE
ANSELL, GEORGES	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	COLLEGE BOREAL
BEST, BILL	PRESIDENT	CAMBRIAN COLLEGE
BOONE, STEVEN	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	SHERIDAN COLLEGE
BOURGEOIS, LISE	PRESIDENT	LA CITE
BOUTZIS, FRANK	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	CONESTOGA COLLEGE
BRULE, CLAUDE	PRESIDENT	ALGONQUIN COLLEGE
BURTON, GEORGE	PRESIDENT	CANADORE COLLEGE
CHISHOLM, BILL	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	MOHAWK COLLEGE
CLIFFORD, FRED	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	FLEMING COLLEGE
COMMON, RON	PRESIDENT	SAULT COLLEGE
COSTANTE, KEVIN	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE
DEVLIN, PETER	PRESIDENT	FANSHAWE COLLEGE
FEARON, GERVAN	PRESIDENT	GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE
FERNANDES, ANA	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	HUMBER COLLEGE
GIROUX, DANIEL	PRESIDENT	COLLEGE BOREAL
HAMPTON-DAVIES, DANIELA	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	SHERIDAN COLLEGE
HOGAN, BARRY	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	LAMBTON COLLEGE
HONEY, KRISTI	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	DURHAM COLLEGE
JOLLIFFE, PAM	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	LOYALIST COLLEGE
KARDAS, ROB	PRESIDENT	LAMBTON COLLEGE
KENNEDY, SEAN	PRESIDENT	NIAGARA COLLEGE
KHONSARI, ALI	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	GEORGIAN COLLEGE
LEONARD, PIERRE	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	LA CITE
LLOYD, GRAHAM	CEO AND SECRETARY	COLLEGE EMPLOYER COUNCIL
LOVISA, DON	PRESIDENT	DURHAM COLLEGE
LYNCH, KATHLEEN	PRESIDENT	CONFEDERATION COLLEGE
MARTIN, MICHELE	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	FANSHAWE COLLEGE
MCKERLIE, RON	PRESIDENT	MOHAWK COLLEGE
MCLAREN, JAY	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	ALGONQUIN COLLEGE
MCLELLAND, MAUREEN	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	CAMBRIAN COLLEGE
MORRISON, JANET	PRESIDENT	SHERIDAN COLLEGE
PENNER, AUDREY	PRESIDENT	NORTHERN COLLEGE
RICHARD, ROGER	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	ST. LAWRENCE COLLEGE
SOMANI, ASHIF	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	SENECA COLLEGE
SOVRAN, EGIDIO	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	ST. CLAIR COLLEGE
STEPHENSON, CRAIG	PRESIDENT	CENTENNIAL COLLEGE
TIBBITS, JOHN	PRESIDENT	CONESTOGA COLLEGE
VAUGHAN, ANN MARIE	PRESIDENT	LOYALIST COLLEGE
VOLLEBREGT, GLENN	PRESIDENT	ST. LAWRENCE COLLEGE
WALSH, DOUG	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	NORTHERN COLLEGE
WEST-MOYNES, MARYLYNN	PRESIDENT	GEORGIAN COLLEGE
WHITAKER, CHRIS	PRESIDENT	HUMBER COLLEGE
WILCOX, TODD	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	CANADORE COLLEGE
WILLIAMS, CHRISTINE	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	CENTENNIAL COLLEGE
WING, WENDY	CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS	NIAGARA COLLEGE

Q: How is the CEC funded?

A: We understand it is funded by collecting dues from the 24 public colleges.

Q: What is the CEC’s status?

A: On March 31, 2014, then-CEO of the CEC Don Sinclair wrote the following to OPSEU Local 110 President Darryl Bedford:

The Council on April 2010 became a not for profit statutory corporation owned and operated by the colleges. Therefore it was no longer a crown agency. As a result, a lot of legislation that affects crown agencies or corporations (colleges hospitals etc) such as FIPPA, Salary Disclosure, Gov’t Directives etc does not apply to our corporation.

Trust this helps.

Don

Q: Was Don Sinclair correct in stating that legislation for crown agencies does not apply to The Council?

A: In a nutshell, no. The following is from the debate on Bill 90 to amend the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act in 2008.

[From] the clause-by-clause analysis of Bill 90 by the Standing Committee on General Government, during which Reza Moridi, MPP suggested that the CEC would be subject to freedom of information legislation by virtue of the fact that its membership consists of representatives from college boards:

 

Mr. Reza Moridi: “Under the Labour Relations Act, this [filing requirement for an employee organization’s constitution, by-laws, and statement] exists because employee associations are private organizations and the information regarding bylaws, officers and persons authorized to accept notices is not always publicly available. The employers’ council will be established by statutes with the functions established in those statutes.”

“As well, given that the board is composed of members of college boards, it’s likely that all information regarding the council would be accessible under the FOIPPA.”

Q: Do we have any idea how much CEO Graham Lloyd earns? Do we have any idea how much the CEC spends on bargaining?

A: No, and No.

 

 

Local 110 would like to acknowledge the members of Local 558 for their assistance and research efforts. Thank you!

There is also a great article Ontario colleges and the real (meddling) third party by Jeff Brown of Local 556. Thank you for allowing us to share it!