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“I think Canadians are expecting great things from a Liberal government, and it’s not just public servants who are disappointed but Canadians as a whole are,” said PSAC president Robyn Benson.

This week, the giant PSAC is launching a series of print and radio advertisements aimed at Trudeau, who is still riding huge waves of popularity, featuring slogans “you said you would be different” and “make good on your word.”

The biggest disappointment has been at the table, where the Liberals have so far adopted the bargaining and compensation strategy of the previous Conservative government.

The Conservatives made major changes to public servants’ pay and benefits, killed voluntary severance benefits, forced them to pay for half of their pension contributions, and increased retirement age and retirees’ health-plan costs. The Tories’ next target was sick leave, replacing the existing regime with a new short-term disability plan.

The Liberals picked up bargaining a year ago and have so far stuck with the same short-term disability proposal the Conservatives made — with some improvements. Treasury Board president Scott Brison said from the start that he wanted to “modernize” sick leave.

“Many of our members voted for the Liberals and were quite enamoured and felt so much better they were elected after spending 10 years with the Harper Conservatives. There were high hopes … but we’re not seeing what the membership anticipated, and that’s not just at the bargaining table,” said Benson.