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More than 50,000 federal jobs on chopping block as Ottawa trims spending
Les Whittington Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA—More than 50,000 federal jobs could disappear by the time the Conservatives are finished their budget-cutting, with the resulting loss of services being felt most by aboriginals, seniors, low-income earners and other vulnerable Canadians, an Ottawa think tank predicts.
The report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) looks at budget-reduction campaigns by the Harper government since 2007 and attempts to estimate the impact of the 2010 personnel cost freeze and the latest Strategic and Operating Review. That pruning exercise, announced in the 2011 budget, is intended to result in $4 billion a year in federal spending reductions.
Where the axe will actually fall will be unclear until the March federal budget and other announcements by Treasury Board President Tony Clement later this year.
But, based on information available so far from departmental projections, CCPA senior economist David Macdonald estimates that between 50,000 and 60,000 federal public service jobs or private sector jobs funded by Ottawa will be eliminated by 2014.
“No matter how the cuts take shape, the job losses will be significant,” Macdonald says in “The Cuts Behind the Curtain: How federal cutbacks will slash services and increase unemployment.”
When all of the Harper government’s budget-trimming campaigns are fully implemented in two years, total annual federal spending will be reduced by $7.82 billion, the report states.
If these cuts come exclusively from reductions in government jobs, federal public service employment (excluding RCMP and military personnel that have been declared off limits) would fall by 20 per cent, to 225,000 positions, Macdonald estimates.
He said this would put federal government employment on a par with the 1970s, except that Ottawa now has 30 per cent more people to serve than it did then.
Under this scenario, the Ottawa-Gatineau region would shed an estimated 22,400 jobs. Away from the capital region, there would be a loss of 6,500 other federal positions in Ontario, according to the report.
However, Macdonald says the Harper government spending cuts are unlikely to be absorbed through federal public service job reductions alone. He says Ottawa will likely aim the cuts in part at government departments and in part at a wide range of federal transfers that support non-governmental organizations, Crown corporations, cultural and sports groups and not-for-profit organizations.
Under this scenario, job cuts would still total more than 50,000 by 2014, the report estimates. But the losses would be split more or less evenly between the public service and organizations that receive financial support from the federal treasury.
Based on analysis of earlier spending reductions, the report identifies key areas that are already seeing cuts and could see more in the next few years.
These include on-reserve housing, job training and primary health care for aboriginals, as well as support for low income families, seniors and the unemployed, Macdonald concludes. Also reduced could be environmental programs, food safety and workplace inspections and international projects.
The report says few cuts are expected among RCMP and military forces. And border security operations, correctional services and intelligence gathering are likely to be exempt from cuts given the Conservatives’ priorities, the report says.
“It remains an open question as to whether Canadians, if given the choice, would cut aboriginal health care, housing and government safety inspectors to pay for more prisons and border security,” Macdonald said. “Canadians need to know exactly what they stand to lose” in the federal budget-cutting exercise, he said.
Les Whittington Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA—More than 50,000 federal jobs could disappear by the time the Conservatives are finished their budget-cutting, with the resulting loss of services being felt most by aboriginals, seniors, low-income earners and other vulnerable Canadians, an Ottawa think tank predicts.
The report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) looks at budget-reduction campaigns by the Harper government since 2007 and attempts to estimate the impact of the 2010 personnel cost freeze and the latest Strategic and Operating Review. That pruning exercise, announced in the 2011 budget, is intended to result in $4 billion a year in federal spending reductions.
Where the axe will actually fall will be unclear until the March federal budget and other announcements by Treasury Board President Tony Clement later this year.
But, based on information available so far from departmental projections, CCPA senior economist David Macdonald estimates that between 50,000 and 60,000 federal public service jobs or private sector jobs funded by Ottawa will be eliminated by 2014.
“No matter how the cuts take shape, the job losses will be significant,” Macdonald says in “The Cuts Behind the Curtain: How federal cutbacks will slash services and increase unemployment.”
When all of the Harper government’s budget-trimming campaigns are fully implemented in two years, total annual federal spending will be reduced by $7.82 billion, the report states.
If these cuts come exclusively from reductions in government jobs, federal public service employment (excluding RCMP and military personnel that have been declared off limits) would fall by 20 per cent, to 225,000 positions, Macdonald estimates.
He said this would put federal government employment on a par with the 1970s, except that Ottawa now has 30 per cent more people to serve than it did then.
Under this scenario, the Ottawa-Gatineau region would shed an estimated 22,400 jobs. Away from the capital region, there would be a loss of 6,500 other federal positions in Ontario, according to the report.
However, Macdonald says the Harper government spending cuts are unlikely to be absorbed through federal public service job reductions alone. He says Ottawa will likely aim the cuts in part at government departments and in part at a wide range of federal transfers that support non-governmental organizations, Crown corporations, cultural and sports groups and not-for-profit organizations.
Under this scenario, job cuts would still total more than 50,000 by 2014, the report estimates. But the losses would be split more or less evenly between the public service and organizations that receive financial support from the federal treasury.
Based on analysis of earlier spending reductions, the report identifies key areas that are already seeing cuts and could see more in the next few years.
These include on-reserve housing, job training and primary health care for aboriginals, as well as support for low income families, seniors and the unemployed, Macdonald concludes. Also reduced could be environmental programs, food safety and workplace inspections and international projects.
The report says few cuts are expected among RCMP and military forces. And border security operations, correctional services and intelligence gathering are likely to be exempt from cuts given the Conservatives’ priorities, the report says.
“It remains an open question as to whether Canadians, if given the choice, would cut aboriginal health care, housing and government safety inspectors to pay for more prisons and border security,” Macdonald said. “Canadians need to know exactly what they stand to lose” in the federal budget-cutting exercise, he said.
50K？
