estimated 98,000 public servants estimated to owe the federal government for overpayments. In June 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government amended the Public Service Employment Act to enshrine employment equity objectives, and notably introduced provide equal preference to Canadian citizens and permanent residents in job competitions. COVID-19 pandemic The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the Treasury Board Secretariat to ask departments to close offices to curtail community spread of COVID-19, and switch to remote work where possible. However, restrictions on network capacity and delays in the deploying IT equipment to public servants working remotely resulted in nearly 110,000 public servants receiving special paid leave, costing approximately $1.1 billion by the end of 2020. The relative success of remote work arrangements prompted at least one department, Transport Canada to designate themselves as fully remote by default in May 2020, joining private companies such as Twitter and Shopify. In October 2021, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that all public servants, regardless of whether they are working remotely or on-site, needed to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by a Health Canada-approved vaccine. Public servants were required to attest their vaccination status to their employers by October 29 of that year, with managers able to ask their employees to submit proof where necessary. Any public servants refusing to get vaccinated would be subject to disciplinary actions after October 29, with non-compliant employees subject to being placed on administrative leave without pay. Those placed on administrative leave without pay as a result of non-compliance with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate are ineligible to collect Employment Insurance (EI). Several public sector unions expressed concern over not being consulted sufficiently by the federal government prior to the announcement of the measure. In June 2022, the federal government suspended the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for federal public servants. Purpose The Public Service of Canada supports the Government of Canada in the development, implementation, and evaluation of policy, and in carrying out key bureaucratic functions at the federal level. The duties of individual public servants vary widely, ranging from issuing policy recommendations to ministers, processing applications or forms, to interacting directly with members of the public. While public servants aim to convert the political priorities of the elected government and Cabinet from concept into action, public servants are loyal to the Crown, rather than the sitting government. As such, public servants remain employed even as governments and political priorities change, requiring