Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• Réjean Simard claimed that EPQ's failure to handle his transfer requests caused him to lose interest on a progressive-rate savings bond with an anniversary date of December 30.
• Central to the dispute was whether EPQ breached its obligation of service to members by being unreachable by telephone in December 2022.
• Contested as well was whether EPQ could rely on an undisclosed 90-day advance notice requirement — found only on its website — to refuse a transfer request.
• The court found that this 90-day condition could not be enforced against Simard, as it did not appear in EPQ's own correspondence, the original contract, or the relevant ministerial order.
• Lost interest for 2023 was calculated at $230.31, representing the difference between the bank rate (5%) and EPQ's rate (1%); lost interest for 2024 was calculated at $250.54, reflecting EPQ's rate of 1.2% against the bank's 5% on the increased capital.
• Procedural issues included EPQ's contestation that no transfer request had been submitted on or before the December 30 anniversary date prior to November 6, 2024.

Facts of the case

Beginning in 2013, Réjean Simard held savings products issued and sold by Épargne Placements Québec (EPQ) under a government borrowing program established pursuant to the Act respecting the ministère des Finances (the Financial Administration Act). In December 2022 and January 2023, Simard attempted to contact EPQ's telephone customer service to negotiate two progressive-rate bonds ahead of their anniversary dates of December 30 and January 23, respectively. He was unable to reach an EPQ agent, instead receiving a recorded message each time asking him to call back later. On January 17, 2023, Simard attended the Laurentian Bank to submit transfer authorization forms for both bonds. EPQ received the request on January 20, 2023, but processed only the transfer for the bond with the January 23 anniversary date. On November 1, 2023, Simard authorized the National Bank to request the transfer of the bond with the December 30 anniversary date and a maturity date of December 30, 2030. EPQ received that request on January 26, 2024, and refused it on the grounds that the product was not redeemable as of the date of receipt. On May 16, 2024, Simard sent EPQ a formal demand for the interest lost since December 2022. A further transfer request was submitted by the National Bank on November 6, 2024, and EPQ ultimately processed the transfer effective December 30, 2024. Simard filed his claim with the Small Claims Division of the Court of Québec on December 18, 2024, claiming lost interest of $230.31 for 2023 and $250.54 for 2024, for a total of $480.85.

Policy terms and contractual clauses at issue

Two contractual and regulatory provisions were central to the dispute. First, EPQ's own May 2024 correspondence stated that a transfer request must be received no later than the anniversary date of the progressive-rate bond, and that transfers to another financial institution could be made at any time once the obligation was moved to a Flexi-Plus account. Second, at trial, EPQ's representative raised an additional condition not found in any of the parties' written correspondence, the portfolio statements, or the governing ministerial order — namely, a requirement that transfer requests be submitted at least 90 days before the anniversary date, which EPQ said appeared only on its website. EPQ also relied on a provision under the Regulation respecting savings products allowing it to cancel a member's subscription without their consent in certain conditions. The same Regulation, however, also provided that submission of a prescribed form is not required where the relevant information has otherwise been transmitted to EPQ by the member or an authorized person.

Court's reasoning and analysis

The court analyzed three questions in sequence. On the first issue, the court found that Simard's repeated inability to reach an EPQ agent in December 2022 demonstrated a breach of EPQ's obligation of means in providing telephone customer service. While EPQ's representative denied that the "call back later" message existed at the time of Simard's calls and suggested Simard had failed to enter his member number and PIN, the court preferred Simard's account. The court noted that EPQ acknowledged there was no particular overload of its customer service in December 2022, and that its own Regulation made clear that a prescribed form is not strictly required where the relevant information is otherwise communicated. Given that the inability to reach an agent had direct and serious consequences for a member wishing to initiate a transfer, the court concluded that EPQ had failed to meet its service obligations.

On the second issue, the court held that EPQ could not invoke the 90-day advance notice requirement against Simard in the context of an adhesion contract. The condition did not appear in EPQ's correspondence of May or December 2024, was absent from the original contract filed with the court, was not mentioned in the portfolio statements, and was not part of the ministerial order governing the relevant products. EPQ also failed to prove that Simard had been made aware of this condition. The court further noted that the written statement of the EPQ representative who called Simard on February 28, 2023, made no reference to any such condition.

Ruling and overall outcome

The court allowed Simard's claim in full. The Procureur général du Québec, representing the Minister of Finance acting on behalf of EPQ, was ordered to pay Simard $480.85 in lost interest — comprising $230.31 for 2023 and $250.54 for 2024 — together with legal interest and the additional indemnity under article 1619 of the Civil Code of Québec, running from December 18, 2024. The Procureur général du Québec was also ordered to pay court costs of $115.00 to Simard.