OTTAWA, October 29, 2026 — Sean O’Reilly, President of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), will be available for comment ahead of and following federal Budget 2026 on whether the government’s spending plans match the public service capacity needed to deliver them.
“The government keeps making promises that depend on public service expertise while cutting the people who provide it,” said O’Reilly. “Canadians deserve to know how those promises will be kept. Announcing funding for a program means little if you’ve cut the team that delivers it.”
PIPSC will be watching Budget 2026 closely for:
- Deeper cuts to an already stretched public service, widening gaps in expertise and service delivery.
- More demands on federal science without the resources to meet them, particularly for impact assessments and regulatory reviews under Bill C-39.
- AI and automation used to justify staffing cuts, without protecting service quality, workers or control over Canadians’ data.
- Continued reliance on costly outsourcing, while cutting the public service’s own expertise.
- Privatization and public-private partnerships that weaken public control and accountability.
“You cannot speed up scientific reviews by cutting scientific capacity,” O’Reilly added. “If the government wants projects assessed faster and Canadians kept safe, it needs to fund the experts who do that work.”
What: President of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada available for comment on Budget 2026
Where: By Zoom
When: In advance, upon request, and on budget day on Nov 5, 2026, from 4:30 to 8 p.m. (EST)
Who: Sean O’Reilly, President, PIPSC
PIPSC represents over 80,000 public-sector professionals across the country, most of them employed by the federal government. Follow us on Facebook, on Bluesky and on Instagram.
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For more information: PIPSC Media Relations, media@pipsc.ca