Read CAPE’s official statement.
On Tuesday, the Liberal government unveiled the 2024 federal budget – its eighth since taking power in 2015 – which includes several policy proposals aimed at improving the lives of Canadians in a climate of high inflation and other challenges.
Budget 2024 includes some key measures on important issues for CAPE members, such as artificial intelligence, spending cuts, official languages and ongoing funding to address pay issues.
But the announcements that caught CAPE’s attention the most are the decrease of the public sector by 5,000 through attrition, and the increase in the Translation Bureau’s budget for interpreters and translators.
Here are some of the key budget proposals of interest to CAPE members:
1. Building on Canada’s artificial intelligence (AI) advantage
To stay competitive in the growing area, Canada is seeking to build and secure its AI advantage. Since 2017, the government has invested more than $2 billion towards AI in Canada. Key proposals in budget 2024 include funding to the Sectoral Workshop Solutions Program to support workers who may be impacted by AI by providing new skills training for workers in potentially disrupted sectors and communities, and the launch of a new AI Compute Access Fund and Canadian AI Sovereign Compute Strategy. It also proposes equipping the AI and data commissioner with the necessary resources to begin enforcing the proposed artificial intelligence and data act.
The federal government has also shown signs of greater AI integration to reduce government operational costs and increase productivity, so measures extended to Canadians to transition are also needed for federal employees. Given the Phoenix debacle, CAPE remains concerned about the quality and reliability of future AI programs and tools used within the federal government.
The potential impact of AI is immense. That is why, earlier this year, CAPE made recommendations to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology studying Canada’s first legislation addressing artificial intelligence.
2. Responsible government spending
In the 2023 budget and fall economic statement, the government announced a total of $15.8 billion in savings over five years and $4.8 billion ongoing. Over the past year, the government has focused on travel and consulting.
Budget 2024 announces the second phase of austerity measures by requiring organizations to cover increased operating costs through their own resources and an anticipated reduction of full-time employees over four years, starting on April 1, 2025. Over this time, based on historical rates of natural attrition, the government expects the public sector to decrease by 5,000 full time positions from an estimated 368,000 as of March 31, 2024.
CAPE is concerned with the proposed decrease of 5,000 full time employees, as any job losses – even through attrition – have the potential to negatively impact services provided to Canadians as public sector employees will be forced to do more with less. As departments seek to restrain spending, we are concerned that members will face increased workloads, and cuts to training and other important services.
3. Protecting official languages rights
Budget 2024 proposes $26 million over five years to the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages to support the implementation of An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages.
The recommendations CAPE made to the parliamentary committee that studied the act were included in the committee’s report to parliament and adopted.
4. Interpretation and translation
The budget commits $31.9 million over five years starting in 2024-25 and $3 million per year ongoing, to Public Services and Procurement Canada’s Translation Bureau to expand translation and interpretation capacities in Parliament and uphold Canada’s Official Languages Act requirements.
$1.1 million over five years stating in 2024-25 will also be put towards training the next generation of official language interpreters and $200,000 ongoing to Public Service and Procurement Canada to establish a scholarship program.
CAPE is pleased to see increased funding to the Translation Bureau. This will hopefully provide necessary resource for CAPE members to do their job effectively – something the union has been calling on the government to do in its numerous committee appearances and meetings with elected officials.
However, CAPE is not convinced this funding is even close to enough to address all the challenges the Translation Bureau is facing. The rising use of AI could have a seismic impact on language experts and must be dealt with proactively. The Translation Bureau also continues to struggle to manage the health and safety risks interpreters are exposed to on the job, which can lead to hearing loss, among other severe consequences, and dissuade the next generation of interpreters from joining the federal public sector at a time when the number of qualified interpreters is rapidly decreasing.
5. Phoenix pay system
Funding is proposed for Public Service and Procurement Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat to improve public service human resources and pay systems, including continuing work on a potential next generation pay solution.
While Phoenix issues have slightly decreased, CAPE continues to count Phoenix cases in the hundreds. Continued funding was anticipated, and no amount of money will ever be enough to compensate the extent of the damage caused to thousands of federal employees who were either overpaid, underpaid, or not paid at all and face hundred of hours of uphill battles with the government to fix this historic mess.
The budget provides no commitment or any clear timelines for when the issues will be resolved nor any commitment to compensate those who continue to face pay issues everyday.
6. Converting underused federal offices to housing
The budget proposes $1.1 billion over 10 years to Public Service and Procurement Canada to reduce its office portfolio by 50 per cent. Funding will help accelerate the end of leases and disposal of underused federal properties and address deferred maintenance.
While this is promising, many more office buildings could be converted into housing across the country if the government showed more flexibility around telework for employees that can perform their tasks remotely. The government is now sitting on expensive property stuck in limbo because of the government’s confusing ambivalence around this issue, denying Canadians potential new housing options in prime locations, and a chance to access property outside expensive city centres if able to telework.
7. Modernizing the Employment Equity Act
Budget 2024 announces the government’s intention to propose legislative amendments to modernise the Employment Equity Act, including expanding the number designated equity groups. This follows submission of the task force’s recommendations on modernizing the employment equity framework,
CAPE made substantial contributions to the review process and had advocated for the expansion of equity groups in both its submitted recommendations and appearance before the task force.
8. National Action Plan on Combatting Hate
To address the rise in Islamophobia, the government proposes $7.3 million over six years, with $1.1 million ongoing, to the Department of Canadian Heritage to support the special representative on combatting Islamophobia.
To address the rise in antisemitism, the government proposes $7.3 million over six years, with $1.1 million ongoing to the Department of Canadian Heritage to support the special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism.
Budget 2024 also proposes the creation of a new national Holocaust remembrance program with $5 million over five years and $2 million ongoing to the Department of Canadian Heritage, to support initiatives that seek to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and help improve Canadian understanding and awareness of the Holocaust and antisemitism.
While allocating funding to fight hate against these groups shows the problem is being acknowledged, it remains to be seen whether it will help address hate within federal government workplace, as CAPE members report a rise in Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents.
9. Supporting the health of Black Canadians
Budget 2024 commits $4 million over two years to the Public Health Agency of Canada to continue supporting initiatives through the Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund that aim to increase health equity and address mental health and its determinants for Black Canadians.
This is an important and sensitive issue that also deserves attention in the federal workplace. It remains to be seen if and how any of this money will help Black federal employees.
10. Pension disclosure
The government proposes amending the Pensions Benefits Standards Act, 1985 to require the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions to publish information related to investments of large federally regulated pension plans and to amend the Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act to ensure that all members of a pooled pension plan are provided with similar information about the plan. Any measure to improve transparency in this area is a step forward.
Conclusion
Reliance on financial restraint and austerity does not have to be the only path forward. We encourage members to read the Alternative Federal Budget 2024, prepared by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives last summer, to see how a rebalancing of priorities can help expand health care, reduce childcare costs, expand social supports for seniors, youth, Indigenous communities, and raise more people out of poverty without relying on austerity measures.
We know that it is critical to ensure that we have a strong, engaged and member-led union that can effectively push back against current and future cuts or attacks on workers. We encourage members to become involved in locals and campaigns in the coming months to ensure that governments will think twice before looking at cuts to public sector employees to generate cost savings.
