On January 27, Parliament will resume. Now that the Liberal Cabinet Ministers have been named, and their mandates received from the Prime Minister, let’s look at what commitments they have made to Canadians and what’s missing from the government’s plan.

Pharmacare

PSAC is pleased to see that the Minister of Health has been directed to implement a national, universal pharmacare plan. If implemented, this will make critical medication more affordable for all Canadians and strengthen our health care system overall.

Labour standards

The last round of changes to the Canada Labour Code resulted in positive changes on paper, but disappointing changes in application, as so many industries were granted exemptions, making the changes virtually meaningless. This time the Minister of Labour has been given vague directions around some aspects of precarious work, but aside from a $15 per hour federal minimum wage, we see nothing here that yet gives us reason to celebrate. We expect better from this government.

Privatization of public services

PSAC has long called on the government to stop the privatization of federal public services. We know that keeping services in the public sector creates better jobs, higher quality services for Canadians, and is often cheaper for taxpayers. Yet the Minister for Infrastructure has been directed to push for continued privatization through the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and a renewed search for private funds for public projects.

Precarious work in the public service

The federal government is one of the biggest users of temporary help agency services in the country. For decades they have skirted proper hiring in the public service by over-relying on contracts and temp work. This lowers the quality of services and working conditions, while increasing the precariousness of jobs in Canada. Instead of leading the fight against precarious work, the Minister for Public Service and Procurement has received no direction to address this issue, ignoring the recommendations of Parliament’s Human Resources Committee to make it a priority of the Minister’s work.

Federal research grants

There are a few commitments made to address research funding by a couple of ministries. For example, the Minister of Health has been asked to provide additional funding to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research so that it can create academic research grants for studies on race, diversity and gender, and to create a much-needed National Institute for Women’s Health Research. And the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry has been asked to “drive mission-oriented research” through the National Research Council. What we don’t see however, is an overall commitment to publicly-funded research, which would prioritize public interests over those of profit-driven corporations.

Clean, affordable, public drinking water

The ongoing commitments to end boil water advisories in Indigenous communities needs to be a priority. As in previous years, we see this commitment in the mandate letters to Ministers, however progress has been too slow.

We are also cautious about the newly announced Canada Water Agency. If this new agency serves to support the delivery of clean, safe, affordable drinking water that is a public service, provided by public sector workers, PSAC will support it. If, however, it is a vehicle to privatization (as has been mused about by the Canada Infrastructure Bank) we will oppose it actively in favour of a public sector solution.

Equity and inclusion

A number of ministers have received ambitious direction on the following issues:

Gender equity

Disability inclusion and accessibility

Indigenous Issues

Anti-Racism

LGBTQ2+ issues

Employment equity

The government’s commitments on these issues are so numerous that we have created a full summary to address these issues.

PSAC’s work doesn’t end at the bargaining table. All these issues impact the quality of life of our members, their families, and their communities. Through public engagement and effective lobbying we’ll continue to pressure this minority government to keep their promises and deliver on their commitments to all Canadians.