Government Operations committee  Madam Chair, I was brought here under false pretence, I guess, because we were told that we would have a minimum of ten minutes, and that's what we prepared to take. To ask me at this late stage of the game to do something—

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. As national president of the 172,000-member Public Service Alliance of Canada, I welcome this opportunity to appear before the government operations and estimates committee during your important study on the freeze on departmental operating budgets. In

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. On behalf of the 166,000 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, I welcome the opportunity to be here today and provide members of the finance committee with a few observations on Bill C-10, the Budget Implementation Act, 2009. In our

Government Operations committee  No. We don't think so.

Government Operations committee  You have hit one of the areas in which we are very much involved in our union. It's an issue that we've been attempting to address with the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, and we have had some discussions with them and continue to have some discussions

Government Operations committee  To take you to the point where you can find it, you'll find it in the public service employment survey, 2002 to 2005.

Government Operations committee  It's certainly not to suggest there should not be a strategy. It would be folly. We're saying what appears to be before us is that hiring people in temporary or casual positions is not necessarily a good long-term solution to the problem. If you're going to have that as your stra

Government Operations committee  There's nothing wrong with term employment in the federal public service, in terms of the purpose of term employment. In large part, people come into positions on a term basis, and you see them lasting in term positions for many years in some instances. To me, if it's the hiring

Government Operations committee  In terms of recruitment and retention in the public service, our view is that people are applying in great numbers, but they're not getting in. They're getting into temporary and casual positions, but they are not given long-term opportunities. What we're seeing is that 65% of th

Government Operations committee  It seems to be a deterrent.

Government Operations committee  There are two parts to that. I don't know that it would have been on the apprenticeship front; it would have been on the equity front. I think what's happening is that people are applying to come into the public service. The numbers are there. It's just that in terms of equity th

Government Operations committee  That's for Lisa.

Government Operations committee  Not at the moment.

Government Operations committee  Given the opportunity, I think people would rather ease into retirement. That flexibility gives an opportunity to government as an employer to ensure that the transfer of knowledge takes place in, I guess, a better way. So yes, I believe our membership are looking for opportunit

Government Operations committee  We aren't there yet.