Opinion
Now is the time to protect public services
By Alex Silas June 15, 2020
The lesson from the pandemic is that there has never been a more important time to strengthen and expand—not cut—public services and to recognize the incredible jobs that public service workers do every day.
When millions of Canadians and business owners lost their income, the government turned to Canada Revenue Agency staff to deliver the bulk of their financial aid package, writes Alex Silas is the regional executive vice-president for the Public Service Alliance of Canada's National Capital Region. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
Every year for one week, the federal government celebrates its more than 300,000 public service employees. It usually comes and goes without too much fanfare, but this year should be different.
Related Stories
Politics This Morning
Your email has been added. An email has been sent to your address, please click the link inside of it to confirm your subscription.
Parties ramping up candidate nominations across Canada as election threat looms
Quebec is expected to once again be a key electoral battleground, spurred on by the Bloc Québécois’ resurgence in 2019, with multiple candidates already nominated in three target ridings. Conservative caucus votes to expel Sloan, former contender for party leadership
He faced potential expulsion last year during the leadership race over comments he made that appeared to question whether chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, who is of Asian descent, was a pawn of China.Could Parliament Hill withstand a Capitol Building-style insurrection?
'I hope that intelligence and security officials in Canada learned after what they saw in the U.S. and can make sure something like that does not happen here,' says Ottawa-turned-Washington correspondent Richard Madan.‘Democracy has prevailed,’ Biden tells nation as Trump leaves office
‘The rise of political extremism, white supremacy, and domestic terrorism [is one] that we must confront and will defeat,’ said U.S. President Joe Biden in his first address.Post controversy, Green Party executive director position remains unfilled
The Green Party's former executive director resigned in October, but a public search for a permanent replacement has yet to begin.Updated mandate letters allow Grits to showcase pandemic fight without being attacked for abandoning promises, say politicos
The new mandate letters add new priorities to the instructions given to cabinet ministers in the 2019 mandate letters. Garneau’s new foreign affairs post centres on his American links and steady hands, say analysts
With Garneau's appointment as foreign affairs minister, the 'big message' to Biden in Washington is 'we have somebody here who can work with you' and who 'understands you,' says Carleton professor Fen Olser Hampson.Canadians ‘overrepresented in the alt-right,’ says filmmaker who chronicled movement’s rise
The U.S. insurrection was an ‘inevitable consequence,’ says documentary filmmaker Daniel Lombroso, after years of far-right activity he witnessed first-hand.
Biden’s plan to cancel Keystone XL pipeline could be ‘blessing in disguise’ for Liberals, says former diplomat
'Knowing that you won't get too many seats in the West, [Prime Minister Justin Trudeau] can turn around and say, ‘Well, I did everything I could to get the project going forward,' ' says a former diplomat. Trending Stories
