Professional Institute of Public Service of Canada
members at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency held a lunchtime protest in downtown Ottawa on Feb. 13 to warn about the potential dangers associated with cost-saving measures.
PIPSC vice-president Stéphanie Fréchette told the
to the food inspection agency could lead to undetected outbreaks.
“If you remove a million of hours of inspection or surveillance or analysis a year, the risk is in everyone’s plate,” she said. “People can die.”
In front of dishes of ground beef, romaine lettuce and pistachios, which have all been involved in serious food-related outbreaks and recalls, Fréchette said around 1,300 workers at the food inspection agency — including 500 PIPSC members — had received workforce adjustment letters, but it was still unclear
and what positions would be deemed surplus.
“The cuts are very broad … It can be veterinarians, it can be inspectors, it can be biologists,” she said.
PIPSC president Sean O’Reilly said PIPSC members of the public service were experts that “serve Canadians to make sure that they’re there to make sure that Canadians can live a carefree life.”
“We’re going to lose a lot of people that dedicated their careers to be public servants. They wanted to serve Canadians, they didn’t want to serve a shareholder,” he said.
“Now they’re going to go elsewhere,” he added.
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