“We’re only finding out now information that we likely should have known several years ago. When Parliamentarians were asked to vote on a budget that eliminated large numbers of people they actually didn’t know where those cuts were going to come from, in terms of the people or which programs were going to be affected,” he said.
For the CCPA report The Fog Finally Clears: The Job and Services Impact of Federal Austerity, released April 8, Mr. Macdonald waded through the reports on plans and priorities of almost 200 departments, which explain their plans for the next three years.
To determine the effect of the 2012 budget, which announced $5.2-billion in budget cuts and 19,200 fewer public service jobs by 2014-2015, as well as other major savings measures piloted by the Conservative government in past years, he tallied the staffing levels reported by each organization. The Parliamentary Budget Office has calculated the accumulated measures will result in a $37-billion cut to the public service over five years.
Between March 2012 and March 2016, Mr. Macdonald found the equivalent of 28,700 full-time positions would disappear from the federal public service, shrinking its size from the equivalent of 376,100 full-time posts to 347,500.
“The most widely cited job-loss figure is from Budget 2012 — 19,200 positions. This projection is for the period 2012-2013 to 2014-2015. However, adjusting for the time period, the departmental plans differ from the Budget 2012 projection,” the report states.
When the government announced its multi-billion cost-cutting savings plan in last year’s budget, Treasury Board President Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.) stated that the reports would be the primary source for details on how departments would achieve their spending cuts. The reports lag a year behind the budget in terms of describing the government’s plans, so this year’s reports, tabled in Parliament on March 28, are the first to contain details about the cuts.
“I would venture to say that this information, had it been presented up front, would have made a difference in the debate of whether we should balance the books a year or two early or whether we should let them balance as they were going to in any event, maybe take a year or two more, but it wouldn’t come at the expense of food inspection, for instance, or maybe Veterans Affairs staffing levels,” said Mr. Macdonald.
Mr. Macdonald said the 29,000 figure isn’t “particularly controversial” as it comes right out of departments’ own reports, but a spokesperson for Mr. Clement told Civil Circles the CCPA report is misleading.
“This report is inaccurate and purposefully misleading. The job numbers cited in the report include temporary and term positions which by their nature are not permanent,” stated spokesperson Matthew Conway.
The publication of the departmental reports means that most of the information on the cuts has been released, Mr. Macdonald said, but there is still room for more detail.
“Could there be more information here? I think there definitely could be,” he said, noting that there is no information on how job losses will be distributed across Canada’s regions, how many positions at departments are simply being transferred to the newly-minted Shared Services Canada, or what role voluntary departures from the public service will play in the job reductions.
In the 2013 budget, released last month, the government announced it had already cut 16,220 jobs, with 9,390 disappearing via attrition, as of Dec. 31, 2012.
There is a discrepancy between that figure and the departures outlined in the reports on plans and priorities, said Mr. Macdonald.
According to the departmental reports, most of the job losses will happen in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, with 13,400 and 9,500 slated departures respectively. The budget figures indicate that the bulk of departures have already happened.
“That doesn’t necessarily square up perfectly with what the government has been saying,” said Mr. Macdonald.
Civil Circles asked the Treasury Board Secretariat about the difference.
“As promised, we are reducing the size of the public service, while reducing the impact on employees through attrition, sun-setting term contracts and qualified placements to other positions. Leaner and more affordable government is good for taxpayers,” stated Mr. Conway in an email.
The numbers indicate this year “will be a big year for cuts,” said Mr. Macdonald.
On top of the 13,400 and 9,500 departures scheduled for 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, there was already a reduction of 2,600 jobs last year, according to Mr. Macdonald. In 2015-2016, a year after the government’s current cuts plan is supposed to wrap up, Mr. Macdonald anticipates a further 2,600 cuts.
The CCPA report also finds that most of the planned cuts don’t fall onto administration and other back-office expenses, as the government says they will.
“It’s programs that are being targeted, it’s not internal services,” said Mr. Macdonald.
He added that of the major departments, Canada Revenue Agency is the only organization where the largest cut falls on internal services and not programs for the public.
The organization currently employs the equivalent of 39,391 people. Between March 2012 and March 2016 it’s expected to lose more than 2,491 positions.
At the tax agency, internal services like human resources and other administration are expected to take a 10 per cent staffing cut.
The 2012 budget committed CRA to $253-million in cuts by 2014-2015. The agency went through an additional review last year, and will cut a further $60.6-million annually by 2015-2016, as announced in the 2013 budget. The government stated that these savings would also come from internal services, reduced administrative support for managers, and automation.
“Interesting, it is only at Canada Revenue Agency, that ‘Internal Services,’ the quintessential ‘back office’ program line, has either the largest proportional or largest absolute employment cut. In the other top five departments, the largest program, either in proportional or absolute terms, are for programs providing direct services,” states the CCPA report.
The four other most affected departments by the number of cuts are: Human Resources Skills Development Canada, National Defence, Statistics Canada and Correctional Services Canada.
Human Resources Skills Development Canada currently employs the equivalent of 20,532 full-time workers. Between March 2012 and March 2016, it will cut 2,100 positions, according to the CCPA.
The most affected program at HRSDC is Social Development, which supports homelessness initiatives, and faces a 62 per cent cut to personnel, according to the report. Also significantly affected is Citizen Centred Services, which helps Canadians access government services online and on the phone.
The department is listed to save $183.2-million by 2014-2015 in the 2012 budget alone.
At National Defence, the “biggest cut by far” is to the military’s contribution to recruitment and training, which will lose the equivalent of 7,600 staff according to the CCPA. The report notes that this will be offset somewhat by a 5,000 full-time position increase in army and Joint and Common Readiness programs.
There are currently 25,408 civilians at National Defence, according to the department’s 2013-2014 report on plans and priorities. The Canadian Forces have 68,000 regular members and 27,000 reservists. The 2012 budget commits National Defence and the CF to $1.1-billion in spending cuts by 2014-2015.
Statistics Canada, which has a equivalent full-time staff of 4,513, “will slash over one- third of its workforce” according to the CCPA. The report notes that it’s hard to tell exactly what programs will face staffing reductions. It’s slated for a $33.9-million cut by 2014-2015, according to the 2012 budget.
Correctional Service of Canada faces a $295.4-million cut by 2014-2015 according to the 2012 budget. It currently employs the equivalent of 19,023 people in full-time positions. The largest staff cuts will be to Community Supervision, which will lose almost half of its staff, and the custody program, which will lose the equivalent of 1,400 full-time positions.
Other major staffing cuts listed in the CCPA report include a loss of 870 full-time positions at Veterans Affairs, mostly to staff processing death and disability benefit claims. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development could cut 1,100 positions by 2016, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is expected to cut 1,400 positions in that time.
The report does note that Environment Canada is actually supposed to increase the number of equivalent-full time positions by 6,000.
Mr. Conway disputed the CCPA report’s conclusion that cuts to staff are affecting front-line services.
“In the case of both Veterans Affairs and HRSDC, two examples cited in the report, the departments are introducing meaningful and transformative back office modernization that is improving service to Canadians while respecting taxpayer dollars,” he added.
The CCPA report seems to corroborate the findings of a Parliamentary Budget Office report released in January.
The PBO examined federal spending between April and September 2012. It found overall federal expenditures were down slightly, due to lower public debt charges and a $900-million decrease in operating spending, but departments’ spending on internal services was actually up.
“Notwithstanding the overall decrease in expenditures, spending on internal services (i.e. overhead costs) increased by eight per cent in the first six months of 2012-2013,” the PBO report states.
In response to the report, Mr. Clement said then Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page “has his definitions wrong and is ill-informed on these issues” in a statement in the House Jan. 28.
Mr. Macdonald said the underlying issue in his report is the lack of government transparency.
“When we’re starting to cut back on programs I think it’s important for Canadians to know what’s being cut, what are the services that are actually going to be affected at the end of the day,” he said.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com
Author: Jessica Bruno
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