Last week, the Conservative party platform revealed cuts to government operations which will dramatically reduce public services Canadians need.

"This is Harper’s cuts on steroids. It’s going to hurt Canadians and the public services they rely on," said Debi Daviau, PIPSC President. "Once again, Conservatives are trying to eliminate the evidence that’s required to create sound policy for all of Canada."

If elected, a Scheer government would cut government operations by $14.4 billion over five years. Measures for cost-cutting could include freezing government staffing levels and reducing the size of workspaces for public servants.

Hiring freezes and layoffs in the public service will have repercussions on all Canadians who rely on public servants to protect the environment, their food and their health and safety.

According to an analysis done by the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, these cuts are bigger than the cuts made by the Harper government.

Canadians cannot afford to go backwards. Vote for public services.

Learn more and get engaged by visiting pipsc.ca/vote2019.

Every $1 invested in public service tax professionals will generate $4 in public revenue, an analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has confirmed.

“Regular people are paying their fair share of taxes. But large corporations and wealthy individuals can hire teams of high-priced specialists to aggressively game the tax code,” said PIPSC president Debi Daviau. PIPSC represents nearly 12,000 Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) tax professionals focused predominantly on corporate audits.

The PBO analysis was released as part of an election platform costing exercise and is a credible, non-partisan report. The analysis clearly shows that investing in the CRA will generate public funds for the services Canadians rely on.

Harper’s 2012 federal budget significantly undermined the CRA’s capacity to stop the richest corporations and individuals from ducking their fair share of taxes. Despite much-needed reinvestment in the CRA since 2015, funding levels are still $500 million below the 2012 cuts.

When Canadians were asked in a 2018 Environics survey whether it’s easier for corporations and wealthy individuals to evade or avoid tax than it is for average people, almost 80% of respondents agreed. When PIPSC put the same question to the auditors, economists, actuaries and other professionals at the CRA, the level of agreement was even higher: 90% said it’s easier for the rich to get around taxes compared to others.

“It is unfair that everyone else has to suffer while the richest individuals and corporations in this country are gaming the system to avoid paying their fair share,” said Daviau. “It’s time to invest in CRA auditors so they can bring fairness back to our tax system.”

We represent 13,000 IT workers in the federal government. We’re leading the fight against overpriced consultants.

We need to elect a government that will invest in a permanent, not contract, public service.

The federal government currently spends $12 billion a year on outsourced services – more than the budgets of 8 departments and agencies combined.

Outsourcing means higher costs to Canadians. Outsourcing means lower quality services for Canadians – less transparency, less accountability with fewer checks and balances. Outsourcing means a loss of institutional knowledge.

In this election, we are calling on political parties to commit to:

• Reduce spending on consultants to 2005-06 levels that were promised by the current government in the last election campaign
• Establish a taskforce with unions to resolve the problem of outsourcing

Learn more about our call to end outsourcing and contracting out.

We surveyed the four federal parties running candidates across the country to find out where they stand on outsourcing:

• The Green Party of Canada: Commits to ensuring our public service has the capacity to operate itself. They believe contractors can enhance service but should not deliver the core mandate or be depended on to deliver services.
• The Liberal Party of Canada: Commits to collaborating with public sector unions like PIPSC and believes progress on this issue is possible.
• The New Democratic Party of Canada: Believes a dedicated, permanent public service is a strong public service. They will work with unions to reduce outsourcing and to foster internal expertise.
• The Conservative Party of Canada did not answer the survey.

With one click, you can email your local candidates to find out where they stand on outsourcing.  

Email your local candidates

On October 21, use your vote to end outsourcing and contracting out.

On August 29, PIPSC sent questions on our top priorities to the leaders of the four federal parties running candidates across the country. We have summarized their responses to help you vote for public services.

Use our chart to quickly compare each party’s response, or read the full response from each party:

Green Party of Canada (GPC)
Liberal Party of Canada (LPC)
New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) 
Despite repeated requests, we did not receive responses from the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC).

With the federal election underway, the government is now in “caretaker mode” which has impacted the roll-out of our Phoenix Compensation Agreement. 

Current employees will have already received up to five days of paid leave in compensation. You can learn more about that process here. 

The claims process for former employees (and representatives of former employees and estates of deceased former employees) to receive compensation has been finalized. You will receive the salary equivalent of the leave days. However, this process could not be rolled out before the federal election was called and must wait until a new federal cabinet is established.

Work continues on the remaining phases of the compensation agreement and we are actively involved. The employer is creating a claims process for losses, interest and damages. It is anticipated that the process for these claims will be rolled out in two phases starting in 2020.

This new claims process will provide compensation for issues covered by many filed grievances. PIPSC has agreed to review and withdraw those grievances within 150 days of signing the compensation agreement. Because the federal election is impacting the employer’s ability to implement a large part of the agreement, PIPSC will be seeking an extension to the 150-day time frame to delay withdrawing existing grievances until the claims process is complete. The details of the compensation agreement can be found here.

We will continue to use the grievance process until the leave process has been completely rolled out.

Please read our FAQs for more information on the Phoenix Compensation Agreement. 

Ottawa, October 4, 2019 – PIPSC President Debi Daviau will be speaking to union members outside Place du Portage on Monday morning about the importance of electing a government that closes tax loopholes to pay for climate action. This is part of PIPSC’s ongoing campaign calling on Canadians to vote to protect public services.

When: Monday, October 7 at 8 am
Who: PIPSC President Debi Daviau
Where: 22 Eddy Street, Gatineau

On-site contact persons: Catherine Gagnon at 819-360-4206 and Shelley Melanson at 613-668-3334. 

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents 60,000 public service professionals across Canada. Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

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For more information, please contact:
Johanne Fillion, 613-228-6310, ext 4953 or 613-883-4900 (cell), jfillion@pipsc.ca

This week, students across the globe led us to the streets to call for climate action.

The strikes were started in August of 2018 by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. These #FridaysForFuture student strikes now take place in communities all over the world, including across Canada.

We stand in solidarity with the world-wide strikes for climate action.

Our public scientists confirm that climate change is a crisis in need of immediate action and only 20% of them believe Canada is doing enough.

“We must listen to the science. We must put the good work of our public scientists to use. As unionists, we must stand in solidarity with students across the globe in calling for climate action,” said PIPSC President Debi Daviau.

On this global day of action, directed at the UN Secretary General’s climate summit, we encourage each person in Canada to join the student-led strike in their own community.

Not all workers will be able to join the marches and rallies in person, but there are many ways to demonstrate solidarity and support for this critical call to action including, showing solidarity on social media, participating in actions on your lunch break, starting a conversation about reducing emissions in your own workplace, or raising climate action with your local candidates in the federal election.

Those who do join the strikes should first speak with their union and consult relevant legislation to understand the legal implications of their actions.

Ottawa, September 26, 2019 – Ninety-four percent of federal scientists say climate change is a crisis in need of immediate action. Only 20% of them think Canada is doing enough to fight and mitigate the climate crisis.

The results are from a survey conducted by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, the union representing 60,000 professionals including Canada’s public scientists. 

“We’re facing a global climate crisis – with fires, floods and extreme weather threatening us all,” said PIPSC President Debi Daviau. “Canada’s public service has some of the world’s best climate scientists and they can give us the solutions to climate change that we need.” 

Daviau argued that Canada’s climate scientists need the necessary resources to do their jobs, but billions of dollars in public funds are being lost every year because of tax loopholes that let corporate cheats duck paying their fair share.

We now have the number of scientists restored, after the previous government’s deep cuts, but we can’t risk leaving them unresourced in the face of climate crisis.

“Nine out of 10 Canada Revenue Agency tax professionals say it is easier for corporations and wealthy individuals to evade or avoid tax responsibilities than it is for average Canadians,” said Daviau. “Do the math. If we close the tax loopholes, we can fund climate action. In this election, we’re calling on voters to elect MPs that are committed to tax fairness and climate action.” 

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents 60,000 public service professionals across Canada. Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

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For further information: 

Johanne Fillion, 613-228-6310, ext 4953 or 613-883-4900 (cell), jfillion@pipsc.ca

Morgan Cranny, SP, admits he doesn’t usually prioritize wage increases when it comes to bargaining. He considers his wages fair, and is most interested in negotiating for increases in leave to allow for work-life balance.

But this year is different.

Morgan lives in Victoria, BC, where the cost of living continues to rise and the city has become an expensive place to live. Without an annual increase his wages each year are worth less – as though his wages are cut each year.

Like most groups, this round of central bargaining has resulted in a total increase of 8% for Morgan over the next four years. “This is a great increase, and I feel grateful to have this secured with the uncertainty of the federal election, “says Morgan.

“I know that the original proposal from the employer was very low, so I’m appreciative of the hard work of the bargaining team. It was a really good round of bargaining overall,” Morgan continued. The increase in leave and the expansion of the definition of family are both really important wins.

Issues common across all groups negotiating with the Treasury Board were strategically addressed at one central bargaining table. This process allowed us to win on wage increase, family leave, anti-harassment measures and many other areas. Today, 14 groups have signed their new collective agreements which include central and group-specific wins.