The following is a brief summary of the April 2025 Advisory Council. If you have any questions,
please contact your Advisory Council Representative or the Advisory Council Steering
Committee.
AC Director’s Report
- AC Steering Committee has put out our 2026 meeting schedule and all meetings will be at the Delta. We are saved substantially on the cost of the AC meetings by signing an annual contract with a single vendor for the year.
- Emergency AC Meeting for Federal Election on March 26. The Member Tool Kit, questions to Parties and speaking points for media have all been actioned
- Board of Directors continues to find more efficient administration of the Better Together Fund
- AC has asked for a Lobbying Strategy and a strategy was presented to the Board of Directors and will be on a future agenda
- There are issues with identifying AGM locations for 2026 and the significant concern of the cost of the AGM. Locations are also limited based on the number of delegates (883). The AC Director asked the AC to consider this and provide advice on a more sustainable model
Departmental Presentation
Susan Evans provided an excellent presentation on the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Strategic Change
- Discussion on making strategic changes; focused conversation on the need for the website to be updated, relaunch of lobbying program in a meaningful and strategic manner and the need to prioritize the steward program
- AC will bring forward four resolutions to the AGM this year
- Dues increase by % from the last AGM
- Change to AC bylaw to make BoD commitment timeline for strategic priorities identified by the AC last year
- AC Steering Committee composition from the 2024 AGM
- AC debated several resolutions to go to the Board of Directors to recommend that the following become a priority: Lobbying Program (passed), Steward Program (passed) and PIPSC Website (passed)
PIPSC Operations
Staff Presentation from IT and Program Management Operations unit. Highlights and focus
- Looking to retire legacy systems (Oracle, PIMS and Network)
- Working to leverage for increased performance from ServiceNow, DataSteward, AWS
- Innovating with Technology (new Elections system, Navigar, Steward Portal and PIPSC website) – Portal and website projects were restarted 2 weeks ago after a pause due to previous financial priorities
PIPSC 2024 AGM
AC reviewed the remaining 2024 AGM resolutions referred to it by the Board of Directors. The AC Director will send recommendations back to Board of Directors for their consideration
Federal Election Strategy
President O’Reilly provided a status updated on PIPSC 2025 Federal Election Campaign
- There is more work to do to be ready to “flex our non-partisan muscle”
- Questions have gone out to political parties; deadline is Monday, and they will be published shortly after
- Email to members on toolkit had a 42% open rate
- Post election planning have been actioned.
- a review and analysis of our strategy and activities
- engagement during National Public Service Week
- a potential early fall lobby day
If you have questions about the Advisory Council or any of the items, I encourage you to contact me.