The OLIP Interns recently had the pleasure of meeting Dave Bulmer, the President of AMAPCEO, and his Strategic Advisor, Grant Burns. Established in 1992, AMAPCEO, also known as Ontario’s Professional Employees, is a non-partisan union that represents more than 14,000 professional employees in the Ontario Public Service.
During our meeting, we learned that Dave started his career as a paramedic, later becoming a Director at the Ministry of Health before he left the Ontario Public Service for a role at AMAPCEO. Furthermore, Grant had also worked with many OLIP Interns in his former role as an Executive Assistant at Queen’s Park. As young professionals, it is always great to hear that career journeys are not always linear and can lead to lots of interesting places.
We discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Ontario Public Service and how it is changing the nature of work. Currently, 99% of AMAPCEO’s members are working remotely which was not something that the organization would have predicted before the beginning of the pandemic. To this end, Dave explained that advocating on behalf of AMAPCEO’s members happens every day and not just when negotiating collective agreements. For both Dave and Grant, this type of leadership is about more than just a title, it is about connecting with people, demonstrating empathy, and inspiring those around you.
AMAPCEO has been a proud sponsor of the OLIP programme for 15 years and supported the development of our speaker series last year. The organization also represents many of our alumni who have gone on to become public servants. Thank you, Dave and Grant, for the great discussion and for AMAPCEO’s continued support of the OLIP programme!