Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

On Labour Day this year, the Public Service Alliance of Canada celebrates with working Canadians the recent landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, affirming that the right to collective bargaining is protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

That decision was a great victory for all working people and a stern reminder to governments that they cannot run roughshod over the rights of workers and erase the hard-won gains of collective bargaining by legislative fiat.

Looking forward, the PSAC remains committed to standing up for quality public services both as an expression of core Canadian values and as a legitimate and effective investment in the nation’s social and physical infrastructure. Many of our over 160,000 members work everyday to protect the health and safety of Canadians and to improve the nation’s environment and culture. The work they do for the public good is the very embodiment of the collective Canadian vision of a fair, equitable and healthy Canada where no one gets left behind.

Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that the Conservative government is out of step with the majority of Canadians when it comes to valuing public services. Since taking office, Stephen Harper’s government has engaged in a campaign to discredit the public sector and has shown an appetite for cutting key programs, privatizing and deregulating.

Whether eliminating the Court Challenges program or slashing funding to the Status of Women or backing out of federal-provincial childcare agreements, the government has consistently shown callous disregard towards the human rights and equality of all Canadians. The government’s recent decision to sell-off nine federal buildings, buildings paid for and owned by Canadians, indicates Harper’s willingness to sell off Canadian assets to the highest bidder.

Through the underfunding of public services, contracting out and attempts to privatize, the government seeks to high-jack our national consensus and put public services and national standards on a precipitous race to the bottom. Canada’s involvement in the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) opens the door even further to deregulation, global integration and foreign ownership. The SPP undermines Canadian sovereignty, by limiting our ability to use regulations to forward public policy goals and the protection that Canadians expect and deserve. SPP seeks to eliminate the need for a strong public sector that works to provide health, safety, security and equality of all Canadians – quality public services delivered by members of PSAC.

Citizens, including PSAC members, are mobilized and fighting back. Our ‘Public Services are Cool’ summer campaign encouraged members to raise the value of public services at summer events across the country. The recent SPP protests in Ottawa and Montebello provided members a voice for saying no to the SPP. Over 5,000 participants at the Québec Social Forum in Montréal developed strategies for rethinking the world in terms of equality, solidarity and sustainable development, and how to engage citizens in creating a more equal world. Such goals are shared by the PSAC Social Justice Fund, providing another way for members to make a difference in Canada and around the world.

Whether in the workplace, the community, nationally or internationally, PSAC members have a role to play in creating a better world. We should all be proud of the value our labour provides to Canadians. Quality public services are a right that all citizens should enjoy and have access to. It is our duty to ensure that these services remain publicly delivered and are accessible to all Canadians, now and into the future.

In Solidarity,

John Gordon
National President