VICTORIA—Victoria’s Queen’s Printer— the provider of printing and related services to the BC Government, federal government and public sector— will be fully outsourcing its printing services to the private sector by summer 2015.

The Queens Printer will continue to broker printing contracts on behalf of the government, but says the growth of electronic publishing and digital information has reduced the demand for government printing.
“Currently Queen’s Printer contracts out about 54% of all the jobs that come in because one printer can’t possibly serve the full needs of government,” communications manager Melody Way said. “Everything from maps, to road signs, to books, and depending on a ministries deadline and requirements. So we’ll be moving to a fully outsourced model next summer.”

Its own electronic publishing division will continue to provide documents for free online, however up to 31 staff may be impacted by the transition. “They’re part of a union called Unifor and that’s for printing staff so they’re very specialized,” Way said. “We are working with the Unifor union and also the BC Public Service Agency to do what we can for the staff. But print brokers will still be required and some design work will continue, so that’s why we say potentially up to 31 employees but between now and next summer the numbers can look a little different.”