OTTAWA, February 13, 2026 — Against the backdrop of a Canadian dining table set with commonly recalled food products, food safety professionals warned today that federal cuts to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are weakening Canada’s ability to prevent foodborne illness.

Scientists, veterinarians, and other specialists working in food safety and animal health are among the hardest hit by recent government cuts. The reductions represent nearly one million hours of inspection, laboratory, and surveillance work eliminated annually.

“CFIA experts inspect facilities, test products in laboratories, trace contamination across supply chains, and stop unsafe food before it reaches Canadian’s dining tables,” said PIPSC President Sean O’Reilly. “That work, though quiet, keeps Canadians safe and fed.”

These reductions come after years of chronic understaffing and mounting workload pressures at CFIA. Food safety professionals have been managing increasingly complex supply chains and disease threats with limited resources. PIPSC says the steady erosion of capacity makes the current cuts especially destabilizing.

Stéphanie Fréchette, a CFIA scientist with 30 years of experience, said prevention depends on experienced professionals who understand how food systems fail in practice.

“For 30 years, I’ve worked to prevent foodborne illness before it spreads,” said Fréchette. “We’ve seen what happens when surveillance fails or inspections are missed. Outbreaks grow, recalls widen, and the consequences are devastating. Weakening this system puts Canadians at real risk.”

Canada issues hundreds of food recalls every year. Most are detected early and contained quickly because trained inspectors and scientists identify risks before they spread widely. PIPSC says reducing that capacity shifts risk onto Canadians.

PIPSC is calling for:

• A halt to further workforce cuts
• Immediate public scrutiny of decisions hollowing out food safety capacity
• Prioritizing human expertise over algorithms

PIPSC represents over 85,000 public-sector professionals across the country, most of them employed by the federal government. Follow us on Facebook, on X (formerly known as Twitter) and on Instagram.

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For more information: Johanne Fillion, 613-883-4900 (mobile), jfillion@pipsc.c

The National Joint Council (NJC)  Travel Directive has been updated to reflect employees’ travel-related needs.

The updates are the result of an extensive, cyclical review of the NJC Travel Directive, which began in 2021 and involved several years of consultation, information sharing, and co-development between the Employer and the bargaining agents. 

Through this process, the parties reached agreements on a wide range of updates to modernize and clarify the Directive. Where agreement could not be reached, a limited number of outstanding issues were referred to interest arbitration and have now been resolved through an arbitration award. 

The changes outlined here reflect both items agreed to by the parties and those awarded through arbitration, updating the Travel Directive to better reflect employees’ travel needs.

For more information, see the changes on the NJC’s website. The full award is posted here.

Changes Awarded Through Arbitration

Headquarters Area 

• No change to the definition of the Headquarters Area
• This threshold is subject to further review between the parties

Dependant Care Allowance (Declaration-Based)

• The declaration-based dependant care allowance has increased:
  • From $35 to $50 per household

Dependant Care Allowance (Receipted – Professional Care)

• Where dependant care is provided by a person or organization in the business of providing care, and supported by receipts:
  • The allowance has increased from $75 a day per household to $100 a day per dependent
• Declarations will not be accepted for this allowance
• A standardized sample declaration form will be developed

Incidental Expense Allowance

• The incidental expense allowance has increased from $17.30 to $25.

Future Review of Allowance Indexing

• Rather than imposing a specific indexing model for incidentals and dependant care, the board has left it to the parties to discuss what indexing model makes sense

Effective Date (Arbitration Items)

• All changes awarded through arbitration take effect March 28, 2025

Changes Agreed to During the Cyclical Review (Pre-Arbitration)

Changes Throughout the Directive

• Streamlined terminology for private motor vehicle (PMV) to ensure consistency
• Updated references to include common-law partners
• Translation errors corrected
• References revised and duplicate language removed

General / Application

• Updated reference to the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board in the grievance procedure
• Clarified the distinction between provisions applicable to travellers and employees
• Clarified that commuting to a permanent or regular workplace does not constitute government travel
• Revised the definition of temporary workplace to improve clarity
• Removed Veterans Affairs Canada hospitals from the definition of government and institutional accommodation

Administration (Part I)

• Where an employee has an aversion to air travel, management shall endeavour to schedule work using alternative travel methods
• Management may consider relocation as an option rather than long-term travel status
• Travel status may be extended in emergencies preventing timely return, with reasonable costs reimbursed when not covered by another authority
• Environmentally friendly suppliers added as preferential suppliers
• “Workplace Change” retitled Temporary Workplace Change (within the headquarters area), with clarified scope and entitlements

Insurance (Part II)

• Clarified employee responsibilities regarding vehicle insurance, and the circumstances under which insurance costs will be reimbursed by the Employer

Travel Modules (Part III)

• Wording updated for consistency across travel modules
• Updated guidance on the appropriate departments to consult for travel documents and medical services
• Clarified what types of water are reimbursable and in what circumstances
• Meals:
  • Reimbursement may exceed Appendix C or D amounts, in exceptional circumstances and with receipts
  • Clarified meal timing, sequencing, and provisions for shift workers
• Transportation:
  • Rental vehicles may be acquired the day before travel
  • Clarified authorization when business or executive class air travel is unavailable
• Incidental Expense Allowance:
  • Clarified that entitlement applies only where the employee is staying overnight in accommodation

Special Travel Circumstances (Part IV)

• Section retitled Travel Provisions for Specific Employees
• Special transportation needs provisions relocated to section 1.5.1.

Emergencies and Illness (Part V)

• Employees may return earlier or later due to personal illness, accidents, or emergency situations at home (e.g., serious illness, fire, flood, ice storm)
   

Ottawa, January 29, 2026 — Public service experts are sounding the alarm over federal cuts to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), warning that food safety, public health, and Canada’s agri-food economy are being put at serious risk in the name of “efficiency.” The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) is calling for immediate public scrutiny of decisions that are hollowing out the federal government’s capacity to prevent the spread of foodborne illness, respond to disease outbreaks, and protect Canada’s domestic and import/export food systems.

“These cuts don’t just affect public servants – they affect every Canadian who eats,” said Sean O’Reilly, President of PIPSC. “When you strip away food safety research, inspection capacity, and emergency coordination, you increase the risk that disease or contamination goes undetected until people are already sick.”

PIPSC warns that the CFIA has faced chronic staffing shortages for more than a decade, even as its workload has steadily increased. The latest cuts significantly worsen an already fragile system.

“Thousands of food processing plants in Canada have never been inspected,” said O’Reilly. “Inspectors are already struggling to keep up with the facilities they’re responsible for today. Expecting fewer staff to do more inspections is simply unrealistic. In the event of a major outbreak, it spells disaster.”

According to PIPSC, the cuts represent the loss of nearly one million hours of food safety and inspection expertise every year. “CFIA has already trimmed the fat – then they cut muscle. These cuts are to the bone,” O’Reilly said. “They put the entire food safety system, and the economy it supports, at risk.”

Canada’s food and agriculture sector is worth over $100 billion annually, while federal investment in CFIA is roughly $1 billion - a return that PIPSC says is being recklessly undermined.

“This is one of the best investments Canadians make,” said O’Reilly. “Why would we cut food safety when it protects lives, livelihoods, and our economy – especially when Canada is looking to diversify its trading partners?”

The risks are not hypothetical. CFIA is currently managing a nationwide recall of more than 300 pistachio products linked to potential Salmonella contamination from imported products. As of early January 2026, multiple brands across Canada have been affected, and hospitalizations have been reported.

“These cuts directly impact CFIA’s ability to conduct the investigations that lead to life-saving recalls,” said O’Reilly. “Weakening inspection and surveillance capacity means outbreaks last longer and harm more people.”

PIPSC also warns that the cuts severely undermine Canada’s ability to monitor and respond to animal and zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza, African swine fever, bluetongue, and foot-and-mouth disease - capacity that is essential to protecting public health and maintaining international trade.

"Veterinary epidemiologists are a trade requirement", said O’Reilly. “If Canada can’t demonstrate credible disease surveillance and risk analysis, we risk losing export access overnight. There are only a handful of veterinary epidemiologists in Canada - and only dozens globally - with this level of expertise. Without them, trading partners lose confidence, exports are at risk, and industry is forced to absorb massive testing costs.”

At the same time, the CFIA is shifting toward a so-called “business line model” of food safety. While framed as modernization, the model increasingly relies on algorithms, industry self-regulation, and third-party audits, while public inspection capacity continues to erode.

“Food safety is not a business function – it’s a public health responsibility,” said O’Reilly. “When oversight is optimized for efficiency instead of safety, the risk is transferred directly onto the public.”

Canadians have already seen the consequences. A Pickering food processing plant linked to a deadly listeria outbreak in 2023 had not been inspected by the CFIA for five years after an automated risk model based on third-party audits classified it as low risk. The CFIA only discovered the plant wasn’t even testing for listeria - after three people had died.

PIPSC represents over 85,000 public-sector professionals across the country, the majority employed by the federal government. Follow us on Facebook and on Instagram.

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For more information: Johanne Fillion, 613-883-4900 (mobile), jfillion@pipsc.ca

PIPSC stewards are the first line of contact for members when facing Workforce Adjustment (WFA) situations. Resources are available below to help you learn more about WFA and ways to support members.

Flowchart and FAQs

For information about how to navigate different WFA situations, review or download the WFA Flowchart and consult the FAQ pages on our website, which include information on: 

• Indeterminate employees
• Selection of Employees for Retention or Lay-Off (SERLO)
• Alternation options for indeterminate employees, and more

If members have questions specific to their department, please reach out to their National Consultation team for details. Members can also ask their employer for any relevant dates regarding WFA in their department.

Watch past webinars

Recordings of past WFA webinars can be found on the web pages below or on our YouTube channel. Webinar recordings: 

• January 2026
• Fall 2025
• Summer 2025

Stay up to date on upcoming WFA webinars and register for a future session to learn more and have your questions answered by PIPSC experts. 

Take the online course

As stewards, you will play a crucial role in communicating about the WFA process, helping affected members understand their rights and options, and ensuring important collective agreement protections are followed. 

PIPSC is offering an online course to equip Stewards in core TBS groups with the tools and resources needed to help members navigate WFA situations. The entire course will take about 1 to 2 hours to complete, and can be completed at your own pace.

If you have a Canvas account, you can access the course by logging in here. If you do not have a Canvas account:

• Step 1: Create an account with Canvas here
• Step 2: Fill out the form and include the course code: YBEA8T
• Step 3: Start the course! You can log in anytime here

Learn about Alternation 

PIPSC has created an alternation platform to assist members who are labelled as opting or surplus as a result of a WFA situation and who wish to remain employed in the public service. Non-affected members who are ready to leave the public service may also want to create a profile to enable an employee to alternate with them. 

PIPSC Alternation Platform

Note that this platform requires members to seek their own alternation matches. We recommend that anyone interested in alternation also use the alternation platforms provided by the Employer. Learn more about alternation on our FAQs page. 

Talk to an expert

PIPSC has created a WFA Task Force to ensure a coordinated response to the public service-wide cuts, including providing additional support to stewards and members.

If you have questions about WFA that cannot be answered through the available resources, you can call the PIPSC reception line at 1-800-267-0446. Reception will redirect you to a specific WFA voicemail where calls are returned within 24 to 48 hours if no one is immediately available to answer your questions.

Mental health resources

This is a difficult time for all federal workers across the public service, and it’s okay to not be okay. Supporting members through WFA situations can be challenging, but there are resources available on the PIPSC website to help stewards and members.

We know that, alongside members, Stewards may also be affected by WFA situations. Most PIPSC members with federal, provincial or private employers have access to an Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP). Your EFAP provides counselling, referral services and sometimes other specialized supports. All services are confidential and free.

For information on EFAPs for members of the Core Public Administration and other Federal Agencies, search by department. For information on EFAPs for PIPSC members at other employers, please contact your human resources department.

Ottawa, January 23, 2026 — The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) is warning that cuts announced this week to key federal science-based departments will weaken Canada’s ability to prevent disasters, respond to emergencies, and protect public safety and the environment.

Reductions at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Transport Canada (TC), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) target scientists, engineers, and policy experts whose work underpins dangerous goods regulation, rail safety, weather forecasting, pollution prevention, marine conservation, habitat restoration, and environmental disaster response.    

“These are not abstract programs or administrative redtape,” said Sean O’Reilly, President of PIPSC. “These are the experts who prevent oil spills from becoming catastrophes, who ensure dangerous goods don’t explode on our railways, who make sure Canadians can trust weather warnings, and who protect species from extinction. Cutting this scientific expertise puts public safety and the environment at risk.”

 The cuts come on the heels of a 2025 PIPSC report warning that Canada’s federal public science system is already at a breaking point. A Science Roadmap for Canada’s Future: Lessons from a Decade of Federal Scientists’ Voices, drawing on 12 years of data from thousands of federal scientists, shows collapsing funding, shrinking capacity, and declining confidence in evidence-based decision-making –  and calls for immediate reinvestment, not deeper cuts.

“Canadians have seen the cost of failing to invest in science, regulation, and oversight,” said Bryan Van Wilgenburg, President of PIPSC’s Applied Science and Patent Group (SP Group) and employee at ECCC. “The collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery, the Sydney Tar Ponds – Canada’s most notorious toxic waste site, and the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster that killed 47 people were not acts of nature. They were failures of oversight, investment, and evidence-based decision-making –  exactly what these cuts are stripping away.”

PIPSC is calling on the federal government to protect the scientific, engineering, research, and regulatory expertise that protects Canadians, their communities and the environment – now and for future generations. “We need to invest in science, not divest”, reiterated O’Reilly.

If you missed our Work Force Adjustment (WFA) webinar, the recording and resources below are now available. In this webinar, we explain your rights under the collective agreement and provide tools and resources to support you.

Work force adjustments (WFAs) continue to affect members across the public service. These cuts threaten the services Canadians count on and place heavier burdens on the workers who provide them. PIPSC is here to ensure you have the information and support you need.

• WFA Presentation Deck
• WFA FAQs

PIPSC is advocating for proper staffing levels to maintain your health and well-being. We know that each position eliminated isn't just a number on a spreadsheet – it represents meaningful work that won't be done and essential services that won't reach Canadians who depend on them.

If you have questions, please contact bettertogether@pipsc.ca. 

OTTAWA,  January 20, 2026 — Deep workforce cuts at Health Canada will weaken the systems Canadians rely on to ensure the safety of their food, medications, and medical devices, warns the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, following confirmation that hundreds of specialized scientific, regulatory, and consumer safety jobs are being eliminated.

“These cuts don’t just affect workers – this is healthcare, they affect every Canadian,” said Sean O’Reilly, President of PIPSC. “These are the experts who make sure the medication in your cabinet is safe to take, the food in your fridge won’t make your family sick, and dangerous products are pulled off store shelves before they cause harm”.

Health Canada is responsible for reviewing and approving prescription drugs, vaccines, and medical devices; monitoring and responding to infectious diseases and foodborne outbreaks; enforcing safety standards; and protecting Canadians from environmental risks in air and water.

PIPSC warns that slashing capacity at Health Canada allows small problems to become serious failures.

“When you weaken the government’s ability to regulate drugs and health products, issue recalls and alerts, and respond to infectious diseases, risks go undetected and warnings come too late,” said O’Reilly. “These experts help Canadians act quickly because they act quickly. You cannot cut public health without increasing risk.”

The union is also deeply concerned about the loss of specialized scientific expertise that cannot be easily replaced. “At a time when Canadians expect strong oversight and rapid responses to health threats, these cuts move us in the opposite direction,” O’Reilly added. “Canadians deserve a proactive, evidence-based, and adequately resourced health system, not one that is less prepared for the crises of tomorrow.”

PIPSC is calling on the federal government to reconsider the scope of these cuts and to meaningfully assess their long-term impacts on public health, safety, and service delivery.

PIPSC represents over 85,000 public-sector professionals across the country, most of them employed by the federal government. Follow us on Facebook, on X (formerly known as Twitter) and on Instagram.

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For more information: Johanne Fillion, 613-883-4900 (mobile), jfillion@pipsc.ca