Position paper : Canada's public service in the 21st century

Every day, Canada's public service employees work on amazing projects. These projects range from developing an infantile meningitis vaccine to approving safe food and drugs, and from issuing timely weather warnings that avert disasters to helping to send Canadian astronauts on space missions and feeding the world by developing better grains. Canadian government employees also work on environmental protection, energy, pandemic response, food and drug safety, national security, mental health, etc. These are just a few examples of what our members do. The government, in its annual report to the prime minister, talks about change. To bring this change, the report cites recruitment, leadership and learning, creating a workplace that fosters creative policy making, responsible decision making, and clear accountability for results as being crucial factors in bringing about public service renewal. While these are all important elements in public service renewal, the Professional Institute believes that retention, compensation, and the role of unions in developing and implementing the government's strategy are equally important. The present paper will be devoted to the issues just mentioned.