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NEWS REPORTS > THE SUBURBAN
23 JANUARY 2002
We can't stop him: Consumer Protection
January 23, 2002
By Diodora Bucur
West-end resident Harris Black, whose job-placement services have prompted
repeated complains to Quebec’s Consumer Protection Office, remains in business.
Some 29 complaints against Black and his various companies were filed with the
Consumer Protection Office since 1996. In 2000, Black was fined $2,000 for
breaking the Consumer Protection Act. An ad reading "office clerk needed, must
be organized, English environment” and his phone number appeared in last week’
The Chronicle, the day The Suburban reported on Black’s activities.
That took Georges-André Levac of the Consumer Protection office by surprise. He
says newspapers usually call up his office when a company refuses to give their
name or address.
“I'm a bit surprised because the classified departments usually call us to see
whether [a company] has any criminal history,” he said.
But Levac admits that there’s not much they can do to stop Black from running
the ads. Newspapers' classified departments have the right to turn him down,
says Levac.
Last week, The Suburban reported that Black operated under a variety of company
names, including Addition 2000. Addition 2000 is a legally registered placement
firm operated across Canada by Gilles Lamontagne. Lamontagne stresses his
nine-year-old company has no connection with Black.
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