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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

And it was time for the new Canadian Premier League players’ association to finally go public.

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With the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down professional sports and wreaking economic havoc across the globe, the Professional Footballers Association Canada had to fast-track plans to organize when the CPL announced plans for salary cuts for non-playing staff and 25 per cent wage deferrals for players and front office staff last week.

It wasn’t the ideal way to come into existence — the organizers had been working quietly behind the scenes since last season — but they felt there was no alternative.

PFACan formally incorporated in February and had planned for a large-scale organizing drive in March, when training camps were in full swing, before the novel coronavirus outbreak put the season in the deep freeze.

“We took a step back, obviously, with the suspension of the season, and we weren’t sure where we were going to go next. We thought about maybe just delaying things until the end of the season, or maybe this whole season wasn’t the time to even try to do this,” said Paul Champ, an Ottawa-based employment and human rights lawyer and PFACan’s general counsel.