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The Issue

The contract between public employees and the federal government is breaking down. Outsourcing means higher cost, lower quality services for Canadians – less transparency, less accountability, and the loss of institutional knowledge and skills. Moving specialized knowledge and skills out of the public service has created a lack of development and training opportunities inside the public service. Our Career Development and Training Task Force is undertaking member-focused research and will be proposing evidence-based solutions to take to the employer.

The real costs of outsourcing are too high – wasted money, poor hiring practices, eroded capacity and safety concerns. It’s time to put a stop to outsourcing. Over the course of 2020, PIPSC will release a series of investigative reports unpacking the government’s growing reliance on outsourcing and its true costs.

Recent news
Part two: Outsourcing and gender equity

11 Mar 2021

5 years ago

Government outsourcing, especially outsourcing of IT personnel, is costing Canadians billions of dollars each year. From time to time, outsourcing may be necessary to augment staff compliments or bring in external skills and expertise1. But years of unchecked spending on outsourcing has created a shadow public service of consultants operating alongside the government workforce. This …

Pushing back against more outsourcing at CRA

1 Mar 2021

5 years ago

On February 19, 2021, President Debi Daviau wrote to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Commissioner Bob Hamilton regarding its recent decision to hire a third-party contractor to answer questions from taxpayers about emergency benefits and their impact on 2020 tax returns. While the various programs introduced to help Canadians during the pandemic may well result in …

Career Development and Training Task Force

29 Jan 2020

6 years ago

According to our 2019 membership survey, career development and training (CDT) is a top priority for seventy percent of PIPSC members – in particular, younger members. That’s why we’re launching a research project to better understand all aspects of career development and training in the federal public service, such as qualifying for a promotion, attending …