William D. Casey, M.P.

Cumberland Colchester

712 Confederation Building

House of Commons

Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6

House of Commons

Chambre des communes

Canada

Press Release

Ottawa Tel: (613) 992-3366

Ottawa Fax: (613) 992-7220

Amherst Tel: (902) 667-8679

Truro Tel: (902) 893-2455

December 13, 2002

Ottawa – Bill Casey, Member of Parliament for Cumberland Colchester, met with. Scott Serson, President of the Public Service Commission (PSC) on December 10, 2002, for a briefing on the proposal to resolve the ongoing discrimination, the Public Service Commission’s hiring practices known as “area of selection”, in Atlantic Canada.  Casey has raised the issue many times in the House of Commons because the allocation of job openings by county is very inconsistent and extremely unfair.

            Mr. Serson has now proposed that all jobs be advertised within a radius of the location of the position.  In certain cases, they will be deemed local jobs and will be advertised within 75 kilometres of the location of the advertised position.  Others requiring higher qualifications or a need for more applications will be advertised within a 200 kilometre radius of the location of the advertised position.  Mr. Serson has indicated that they will attempt to make as many of the jobs as regional as possible.

            Casey has accepted this proposal as an interim answer to the problem, while awaiting the technology decisions which would allow all jobs to be available to all Canadians.  The new system is much more fair than the old system.  Especially considering the criteria which will make sure that no area is consistently excluded from job postings, as they have been in the past.  Also, areas of high unemployment will be taken into consideration when the criteria is established for each job. 

            New technology will eventually allow for every application to be acknowledged by the PSC, and also an explanation of why people were screened out in the event that they are not successful in getting the job.  Casey says, “This will be a major step forward as it is frustrating to apply for a job and never receive an acknowledgement or to find out what happened.”

            Casey is looking forward to the final proposal that will ensure that all Government of Canada jobs are available to Canadians, however that proposal will not be anytime soon.  The PSC is scheduled to present all of the technology options in June 2003, from which the best will be chosen.  Funding will then be required to deliver on this new system and technology.

            Casey says, “I am pleased the way the PSC has responded so far to this problem.  I look forward to their next proposal.”

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For more information:

Bill Casey, MP

Cumberland Colchester