Federal jobs now open to all Canadians
Staffing watchdog fears long-awaited 'wide-open' policy will limit departments
By Kathryn May, The Ottawa CitizenJanuary 9, 2009
For the first time, all externally advertised jobs for Canada's public service will be open to anyone who wants to apply.
The new wide-open policy, which took effect Dec. 31, 2008, is the final step in phasing out nearly 50 years of geographical hiring that allowed the government to restrict jobs to Canadians living in specific regions.
That means all advertised jobs, whether for clerks or assistant deputy ministers, will be open to any qualified Canadians to apply. Gone are the days when a job in Halifax was only advertised in Nova Scotia or a plum post at headquarters in Ottawa was restricted to those living in the national capital region.
The Public Service Commission, the government's staffing watchdog, is overseeing the move. It has braced for a deluge of applications, because whenever the economy sours the interest in secure, well-paid government jobs soars.
PSC president Maria Barrados said the policy will have a "huge impact" because clerical and other administrative support jobs can attract thousands of applications when advertised, and "as the economy turns, these jobs will become even more attractive."
The move is a significant change and is supposed to make hiring in the public service fairer and open up job opportunities to more Canadians. But critics say the policy doesn't go far enough and the government is still a closed shop where most jobs are filled internally and never advertised. Last year, for example, only 41 per cent of jobs were advertised.
The PSC began taking steps to phase out the old policy nearly a decade ago after it was lambasted by MPs, especially those in Atlantic and Western Canada, who claimed it unfairly favoured Central Canada and all the best jobs went to people living in Ontario and Quebec. They said the policy was discriminatory and contributed to regional alienation and Ottawa's growing isolation from the rest of Canada.
The PSC didn't have the technology, money or people to drop the policy all at once, so it was phased out slowly. First, in 2001, all executive jobs were advertised nationally. The next phase came in April 2006 when all 'officer level' or professional jobs in the national capital region -- such as commerce officers, statisticians and accountants -- were opened to all Canadians. A year later, all professional jobs across the country had to be nationally advertised.
By last year, about 55 per cent of all external postings were nationally advertised. Now, all permanent jobs and any posting for more than six months will be thrown open to all Canadians.
The law that allowed the PSC to geographically limit applications was originally introduced as way for the federal government to aim jobs at specific regions and support local employment. It was also a way to limit the number of applications.
But MPs changed their tune over the years. They still want federal jobs in their regions, but argued no one should be denied the right to apply for jobs because of where they live.
So far, the policy hasn't unfolded as hoped. MPs pushing for the change argued Canadians were itching to apply for headquarters jobs in Ottawa, but couldn't because of the geographical restrictions limiting applicants to the national capital region.
But PSC's statistics show Canadians aren't as keen on applying for federal jobs in Ottawa -- or Quebec -- as in the rest of the country. Opening up executive and professional jobs over the past several years certainly increased the number of applicants from across the country, but the lowest proportion of applicants are for jobs in Ottawa and Quebec.
The biggest demand was in the North, where more than 90 per cent of applicants for jobs in Nunavut, the Yukon and Northwest Territories came from outside. In booming Alberta, about 72 per cent of applicants for jobs came from other provinces. In contrast, only about 33 per cent of applicants for Ottawa jobs came from outside the region.
Liberal Senator Pierrete Ringuette wants the policy enshrined in law. She has successfully steered a private member's bill through the Senate to amend the Public Service Employment Act so that all jobs, including short-term and seasonal work, would be advertised. She has long worried that bureaucrats find ways around the rules to direct jobs to preferred candidates. The bill, however, was stopped in its tracks when Parliament was prorogued.
But Ms. Barrados argues the bill goes too far and robs departments of the flexibility to hire workers for short-term or "emergency" jobs. She worries it could handcuff managers who would simply resort to casual workers because they can then bypass advertising altogether. This comes at a time when the PSC has been pushing departments to stop hiring so many casual and term employees who, once they have jobs, are getting the leg-up on permanent jobs as they come up.
In fact, Ms. Barrados recently told Parliament in her annual report that she intends to fight the proposal. She said part-time, seasonal, term, summer student and "urgent operational requirements" should be exempted.
"These exceptions would allow access to all external advertised full-time indeterminate jobs in the federal public service while maintaining the capacity to meet unanticipated, emergency or temporary needs," Ms. Barrados said in her report.
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