PSECA Repealed; PEA Confirmed

Summary#

This Order, published in the Canada Gazette on May 20, 2026, brings certain parts of the Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2 into force on the day of publication. Those parts repeal the never‑proclaimed Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act (PSECA) and related transitional provisions so the newer Pay Equity Act (PEA) is the controlling pay‑equity framework.

What it does#

• Fixes the day the Order is published (May 20, 2026) as the day on which sections 429 and 430, subsection 431(4) and sections 432 to 434, 437 and 438 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2 come into force.
• Repeals the main PSECA provision (originally in section 394 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2009), which was never brought into force.
• Repeals several PSECA‑related transitional and consequential provisions in the Budget Implementation Act, 2009 and in the Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, including measures that would have changed the powers and jurisdiction of the federal labour‑relations board and tribunal for pay‑equity complaints.
• Leaves the Pay Equity Act (PEA) — which already came into force — as the operative law for pay equity in the federal public sector and federally regulated private sector.

Who's affected#

• Federal public service employees, especially those concerned with pay equity processes in the federal workplace. The government says PSECA was never in force, so there is no direct change to employee pay now.
• Federal departments and agencies that would have implemented or administered PSECA had it been brought into force.
• The Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (formerly the Public Service Labour Relations Board) and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, because the repeals remove provisions that would have given them specific PSECA roles. The last outstanding pay‑equity complaint before the Board was resolved on May 21, 2025.
• If it’s unclear who else may notice any downstream effects, that is because the Order is mainly an administrative repeal of laws that were not active.

Why it matters#

• It removes the risk of having two overlapping federal pay‑equity systems (the unused PSECA and the active Pay Equity Act), which could have caused confusion about which rules apply and who has authority over complaints.
• For most people, this is a legal clean‑up: the government describes the change as administrative and says it will not have financial or Charter impacts.
• Practically, the repeal confirms that pay‑equity claims and enforcement in the federal sphere will proceed under the Pay Equity Act and the structures (like a Pay Equity Commissioner) that the PEA set up.