PSAC National President Chris Aylward attends a Public Service Alliance of Canada demonstration outside the Prime Minster's Office in Ottawa on Feb. 28, 2020 to raise attention to the fourth anniversary of the Phoenix Pay System issue. Andrew Meade/iPolitics

Canada’s largest federal public service union is calling on the Trudeau government to help cover childcare expenses for federal employees working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With schools closed and many daycare facilities shuttered, federal employees deemed “critical” and still on the job are having to juggle their work responsibilities with seeking out suitable childcare, said Chris Aylward, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

READ MORE: Treasury Board aims to clarify ‘critical services’ in new directive

The federal government, he said, should follow the lead of provinces like Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec that have all helped arranged or partly covered childcare for employees required to continuing work during the pandemic. For example, the Manitoba government managed to find childcare supports for nearly 230 front-line health-care and other essential workers days before daycare and school closures came into effect, CBC News reports.

“It’s necessary at this time because there are so many federal public sector workers that have been deemed critical and…have to go to work. With the schools closed and for the most part, all childcare centres closed, it’s certainly a burden and a struggle for those employees,” Aylward told iPolitics in a phone interview Thursday.

“Even [for] those who can work from home, when you’ve got the toddlers running around because the your regular childcare is closed, that can be a challenge as well.”

The Treasury Board on Saturday issued a new directive to department and agency heads aimed at clarifying which public servants still need to show up to work amid the global health pandemic.

The directive, which was also sent to presidents of regional federal councils and heads of human resources, reiterates that managers can only consider mandating staff to show up on site if their “work meets the definition of critical service and working remotely to support it is not feasible.”

According to the department, which acts as the employer of the public service, a critical service is defined as one that, if disrupted, would “result in a high or very high degree of injury to the health, safety, security or economic well-being of Canadians, or to the effective functioning of the Government of Canada.”

All departments and agencies must identify their own critical services and any resources that support that work.

Aylward said having the federal government subsidize the cost of employees’ in-home childcare is the “best option” and would be far more preferable than opening (or reopening) dedicated childcare centres, which could come with potential health risks. Daycares are closed in Quebec except for the children of employees working in health care, law enforcement and other services deemed essential in the fight against COVID-19. Quebec already provides subsidized daycare which works out to $8.35 a day.

When asked about the request from the union, a Treasury Board spokesperson said the department was “assessing the situation” and exploring whether “other measures are needed to ensure public servants can continue to deliver critical services and immediate results for Canadians.”

“We are in regular contact with bargaining agents, who have raised the matter of daycare support for critical employees,” Martin Potvin told iPolitics in an emailed statement.

“Federal public servants are delivering critical services for Canadians under unprecedented circumstances. At the same time, they are following the guidance of local health authorities, as well as municipal and provincial levels of government which have, in some cases, declared states of emergency.”

Aylward said he has raised the issue twice with officials from the Treasury Board and the latest reply he has received from the department, which came on Tuesday, was that they “are still looking into it.”

Asked if he was frustrated by the response, given the actions of some provincial governments, Aylward acknowledged that the federal public service is likely far larger than other jurisdictions. Still, he said the response from the Treasury Board is “a little bit slower than what we would like to see.”

– With files from Kevin Dougherty