Cuts in the Public Service

The Flaherty budget tabled in March 2012 forecast 19,200 jobs eliminated and it promised that a heavy burden would be shouldered by the national capital region. These cuts affect the lives of people, and impact on not only them but also their family and friends. We are not talking about machines. We are talking about people who must be treated with concern, respect and dignity.

Far more people than necessary are receiving letters that their jobs are affected by this downsizing, because of the way this government is implementing the job cuts. Not everyone who receives a letter will be laid off, but they are all “affected” by this process.

François Legault, the director of Health Canada’s Employee Assistance Program, said his office gets thousands of calls per year and the numbers are increasing, particularly the “crisis’’ calls. If the trend continues, he said the service could get 200 crisis calls compared to 167 calls last year and 120 the year before. Crisis calls are made by employees feeling desperate, some even contemplating suicide.

The indicators are clear : People are more stressed and public servants, and their families, are calling for assistance. Canada’s public servants are walking on a tightrope since Minister Tony Clement was tasked to put together a strategic and operational review of costs in the service, and thousands have or will lose their jobs.

Critics such as Linda Duxbury have argued that this period of uncertainty, coupled with having to compete with colleagues for jobs, is adding to the overall stress factor. They argue that cuts should have been done quickly and not dragged out over years.

The Public Sector Alliance of Canada (PSAC), our country’s largest public sector union, has seen its membership bombarded by affected notices…

  • Total PSAC members affected as of mid-September 2012: 18,019
  • Total PSAC members affected in the National Capital Region: 6,268
  • Total PSAC members affected in the rest of Ontario: 2,609
  • Number of departments affected so far: 44
(Source: Public Service Alliance of Canada, website at www.psac-afpc.com)

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), also a large public sector union, has been heavily affected as well…

  • Total PIPSC members affected as of mid-September 2012: 5,203
  • Total PIPSC members affected in the National Capital Region: 2,526
  • Total PIPSC members affected in the rest of Ontario: 642
  • Number of departments affected so far: 38
(Source: Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, website at www.pipsc.ca)

“One thing is certain: whatever shape these cuts will take, the job losses will be considerable. […] One of the major problems is transparency. The [current]Government has not provided any information with regard to positions that will be abolished, nor did it say why they will be” — David Macdonald, economist and author of the report entitled The Cuts behind the Curtain (Source: the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, website at www.policyalternatives.ca).

Lastly, one has to understand that not only unionized employees of the public service will be affected by these ongoing across-the-board cuts, but a number of “non-unionized” casual and contracted employees will or have already lost their jobs. All of this will also have a negative impact on the economy of our region and will likely cause further job losses.

Links

Government

Government of Canada
Parliament of Canada
Personal Income Tax Information
Government of Ontario

Constituency

The City of Ottawa
Vanier Community Service Centre
Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre
Patro d’Ottawa (available in French only)
Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health
Centre de Services Guigues (available in French only)
Community Associations
Community Centres
Business Improvement Area – Vanier