What Is the Federal Public Service?

• Author: Christopher Rootham
• Pages: 67-119

67

 

What Is the Federal Public Service?

A. OUTLINE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

This book is about labour and employment law in the federal public

service. Therefore, the f‌irst question that must be answered is: what is

the “federal public service”?

The answer to this question is found in the Financial Administration

Act (FAA).1 The FA A, as its name suggests, establishes the basic rules

for f‌inancial administration in the federal public sector — rules that are

far beyond the scope and subject matter of this book. The FAA serves a

second purpose: it establishes rules for human resources administration

in the federal public sector.

As a foundational legal principle, the employer of federal public

servants is His Majesty the King in right of Canada. As a general rule,

His Majesty does not exercise his functions of employer himself or

through the Governor in Council;2 instead, he delegates his functions

as the employer to either the Treasury Board of Canada or to a separate

agency. The FAA sets out the persons for whom the Treasury Board,

on behalf of His Majesty, will be the employer and those for whom

some separate agency will be the employer.3 The Governor in Council

1 Financial Administration Act, RSC 1985, c F-11 [FAA].

2 The “Governor in Council” is the term for the “Governor General of Canada

acting by and with the advice of, or by and with the advice and consent of, or in

conjunction with the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada” — that is, the federal

Cabinet. Interpretation Act, RSC 1985, c I-21, s 35.

3 Gingras v Canada, [1994] 2 FC 734 at para 38 [Gingras].

68 | LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW IN THE FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE

has the ability to shift particular government units between the various

schedules to the FAA.

The federal public service (or, to use its proper legal term, the “fed-

eral public administration”) is best seen as a series of concentric circles,

shown in Figure 3.1 with some examples of units within each ring.

 ..        



The inner-most circle lists “departments” within the federal public ser-

vice. A “department” is listed in Schedule I of the FAA. These depart-

ments include, for example, the Department of Foreign Aairs, Trade,

and Development (DFATD; more commonly called Global Aairs Can-

ada). As a practical matter, departments are responsible for designing

and implementing government policy.

The Core:

Schedule I

Employers

Can. Food

Inspection

Agency

RCMP

DFATD

Dept. of

Citizenship

and Imm. Imm. and

Refugee

Board

Dept. of

Finance

Human

Rights

Comm.

Dept. of

Indigenous

Services

Parks

Canada

CRTC

Sta of the

Non-public

Funds

CRA

The Core:

Schedule IV Employers

Separate Agencies:

Schedule V Employers

What Is the Federal Public Service? | 69

The second circle lists “portions” of the federal public adminis-

tration. They are listed in Schedule IV of the FAA. As a practical mat-

ter, these portions, which are not departments, are more operational

in nature: they provide a particular service to Canadians but are not

responsible for designing government policy.

Together, the two inner circles comprise the “core public adminis-

tration.”

The third circle (in light grey) is composed of “separate agencies.”

Separate agencies are responsible for all aspects of the employment

relationship; they are treated as separate employers for collective bar-

gaining purposes and make their own decisions about appointing and

dismissing employees.

This structure is further explained below.

) The Core Public Administration and the Treasury Board

The core public administration refers to those departments and agen-

cies listed in schedules I and IV of the FAA. More practically, public

servants in the core public administration are employed by the Treas-

ury Board instead of their particular department or agency. Most fed-

eral public servants are employed in the core public administration. As

of 31March 2019, for example, the core public administration had

220,310 employees (or 76.5 percent of the federal public service) com-

pared to 67,668 (23.5 percent) in separate agencies.4

The core public administration comprises various departments of

the federal public service, as well as certain agencies, boards, and com-

missions that are listed in Schedule IV and considered part of the core

of the federal public service.

Employees in the core public administration are employed by the

Treasury Board of Canada. The Treasury Board is a subcommittee of

Cabinet established pursuant to section 5 of the FAA consisting of the

president of the Treasury Board, the minister of f‌inance, and four other

Cabinet ministers. There are also a number of alternate members (other

4 Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, “Population of the Federal Public Service”

online: www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/psm-fpfm/modernizing-modernisation/stats/ssen-ane-

eng.asp. In case you were wondering, this means that roughly 0.8 percent of

Canadian citizens are employed in the federal public service, or 1.5 percent of

Canadians in active employment.