Ottawa, November 5, 2025 — The Public Service Alliance of Canada is deeply concerned about the federal government’s plan to slash critical public services, cut more than 40,000 federal public service workers, and undermine the collective bargaining rights of hundreds of thousands of workers.

Despite the needs of a growing and aging population, the government’s Budget 2025 will eliminate vital programs and services over the next three years while replacing workers with artificial intelligence through its Comprehensive Expenditure Review (CER).

“These deep public service cuts will hurt workers, families and communities across Canada,” said PSAC National President Sharon DeSousa. “People can expect longer wait times for passports, EI and child care benefits, more unanswered calls at Canada Revenue Agency, reduced public health and food safety efforts, and a government that isn’t there for ordinary people when they need it most.”

Instead of investing in frontline services and the workers who keep Canada running, the government is doubling down on job cuts and AI chatbots that will weaken Canada’s social safety net.

PSAC will do everything in its power to protect public services and the people who provide them by enforcing the provisions of our collective agreements and the rights enshrined in labour law.

“Prime Minister Carney talks a lot about how Canada will have to make sacrifices, but who is really making sacrifices in this budget?” asked DeSousa. “It’s not the mega corporations, the wealthy bankers or the CEOs – once again it’s working people in this country who will shoulder the burden.”

Changes to collective bargaining

We are also extremely concerned about the government’s decision to unilaterally change the labour laws that govern federal public service workers, and will be reviewing the legislation closely.

“These changes are yet another direct attack by this government on workers’ constitutionally protected collective bargaining rights,” said DeSousa. “Let me be clear: workers fought hard to secure these rights, and will fight tooth-and-nail to protect them.”

Equitable retirement for frontline workers

We welcome the commitment in the budget to provide public safety workers with equitable retirement benefits, allowing them to retire with dignity after 25 years of service, without penalty. This is long overdue.

This article was first published on the PSAC website.

In light of the United Conservative Party of Alberta’s unprecedented attack on workers and unions rights earlier this week, the Customs and Immigration Union expresses its full solidarity with the Alberta Federation of Labour and the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

“By invoking the notwithstanding clause to send Alberta’s teachers back to work, the UCP is saying loud and clear that it will stop at nothing to strip hard-working people of their rights and protections” said Brea Baresinkoff, CIU 2^nd National Vice-President, responsible for the CIU Prairies Region. “Other unions cannot sit idly by as the Alberta government signals to all provinces that it’s open season on workers rights, collective bargaining, and the democratic process.”

CIU encourages all its members to visit the Alberta Federation of Labour’s website for more information on how to support the unions in their fight.

CIU also echoes the recent PSAC Prairies statement:

The Alberta government’s recent move to invoke the clause and steamroll the rights of teachers is not just wrong — it is undemocratic and sets a dangerous precedent in this province. We are urging our members and the public not to sit by as this government demonstrates it has no issue suspending the rights of Albertans. We strongly encourage you to join the Alberta Federation of Labour’s Ready to Resist campaign. Learn more and sign up for updates through the AFL website. Additionally, reach out to your local MLA and let them know this is unacceptable and as a constituent you do not support it. We are currently exploring all our available options to push back, including but not limited to, escalating direct actions and will be providing regular updates to members for ways to get involved.

‘Make no mistake, the use of the notwithstanding clause on teachers is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to the draconian and undemocratic moves of a government intent on trampling the democratic process and the rights of its citizens,’ said Marianne Hladun, Regional Executive Vice-President, Prairies.

On October 27, Bill 2, the Back to School Act, was tabled and rammed through the legislature. Any attempts to meaningfully debate the bill were blocked. Any chance for public input was denied. Instead the government used their majority to push it through, to achieve its own ends, at the expense of the citizens of Alberta.

‘This is no longer just a fight for public education, this is a fight against a government determined to silence Albertans and strip away their rights. How much more will we allow before we say enough?’ continued Hladun.

More information

To find out more on how unions in Alberta are responding to the provincial government’s attack on workers rights, see:

• Alberta Federation of Labour: “We will begin the process of organizing towards a potential general strike”
• Alberta Teachers’ Association to Challenge ‘Back to School’ Act

Congratulations to Mia Novakovic, who has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 Laurel Randle Memorial Bursary! Mia is the child of CIU member Francine Mwamba, from the Headquarters Branch. The winning essay demonstrated a definite understanding of Laurel’s values — dedication to social justice and union activism — and provided clear insight in an original and creative fashion. Well done, Mia!

In total, fourteen submissions were received prior to the July 31 deadline. Thank you to all who participated! The application process for the 2026 bursary will open in the spring.

We’re pleased to announce the winners of the September round of our ‘We’re inundated with managers’ contest.

Congratulations to Tamara McLean from Windsor, who won in the ‘absurdity of the employees/management ratio’ category! She writes: While working one shift, I noticed that we seemed to have a lot of managers on. There were a total of thirteen managers and only eleven officers to run a day shift.

And congratulations to Catherine Thouin from Lacolle, who won in the ‘originality of the submission’ category. She writes: “I’ll always remember: There were six superintendents that day. Two administrative superintendents and four operational superintendents. No surge capacity, no crisis on the horizon. There were eight of us border service officers, handling about ten cases.” It certainly paints a picture!

We’ll be announcing the winners for the month of October in early November (previous submissions will also be considered, so no need to resubmit them).