Written back in 2012, when Stephen Harper was Prime Minister. There was a feeling that the government needed to cut spending. In the end, big cuts did not happen. The Federal Government is too large, but no party wants to make those cuts.
I have in the past used information from the Canadian TaxPayers Federation, so I feel it would be remiss of me if I didn’t include their latest YouTube video as part of my I am a Civil Servant, set of writings.
The points made by the Taxpayers Federation are valid and interesting. However, there is an implication that Government Employees are all overpaid, etc., in the delivery of the message. Yes, they don’t say it, but I am reading between the lines. The e-mail that pointed to the clip did include the following paragraph (which does make the point a lot clearer that Civil Servants are all RICH or will be with their pensions):
After all, you, along with every other Canadian, owe about $6,776 and count in additional taxes to pay for the rich federal government employee pension plan. That’s, of course, on top of our national debt. Federal bureaucrat pension plans are short $227 billion due to the rich, unsustainable payouts negotiated.
Blaming Civil Servants for having a generous pension is interesting, so PSAC should have negotiated a crappier set of benefits?!? Also, another reason the pension fund is short is due to the Federal Government raiding the fund in the 90’s and bad investments. This is a problem all pension plans are now suffering through.
I believe the TaxPayers Federation will get their wish somewhat when the new Government budget comes down. The Government will explain how much money will be spent this year on severance packages for the LARGE cut back in the Civil Service. This will not be scalpel cuts, this will be Chain Saw hacking, similar to the early ’90s.
Wonder what the Federation is going to say about the severance packages given to the Civil Servants? I guess that remains to be seen.
” Prime Minister Stephen Harper quietly hired private consultants in late summer to advise his government on how to cut $4 billion. It’s unlikely taxpayers will ever know whether the $19.8 million contract to Deloitte was worth the price..”
” All three levels of government have highly trained public servants who are paid to provide well-researched, impartial financial advice. Yet all three have turned to outsiders”
19.8 Million dollars!
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1134798–outsourcing-the-new-way-to-balance-government-budgets-in-canada