The report, by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, concludes that the Conservatives are able to realize their promised surplus and tax breaks at the expense of front-line services, corroded by steady spending cuts that will continue for another two years — even after the books have been balanced.
“Those cuts to services aren’t being reversed. There are no plans to bring back any of those services,” said David Macdonald, senior economist at the CCPA.
“Instead those cut services are paying for the tax package announced last week. The surplus was made possible by those substantial cuts.”
Macdonald said the cuts appear to have been rolled out faster than expected. An analysis of departments’ reports on plans and priorities show they expected to shed 28,600 positions — or full-time equivalents — between 2012 and 2016.
But Statistics Canada’s monthly employment and payroll reports show nearly 37,000 people have already lost jobs. Macdonald argued that means the number of people working for government has fallen by eight per cent — compared to the 4.5 per cent the government estimated in the 2012 austerity budget.
“The rush to balance the budget has also impacted federally delivered services … It is not a stretch to say that veterans and the unemployed, for example, will be deprived of services for the sole sake of hurrying a return to federal surpluses. The cuts were implemented much more quickly than initially projected,” wrote Macdonald.
The government has been criticized from the start for refusing to reveal the nature of the billions of dollars in cuts, and their impact on jobs and the quality of services. The Parliamentary Budget Office has led the charge for that information and took the government to court to get it.
Without that information, analysts have had to deduce the impact by tracking staffing levels and the changing budget levels in departments. By next year, the cumulative impact of the Conservatives’ spending cuts will hit $14.5 billion a year.
The government has been cutting spending for five years by a combination of freezing budgets, slashing budgets and eliminating programs, which are still working their way through the system.
The report said the full impact of the cuts won’t be known for years but analysis of the spending and staffing reductions “debunks” the Conservatives’ assurances that the cuts will be small, short-lived and with little impact on the quality of front-line services. The government insisted that Canadians wouldn’t notice the cuts, which would be concentrated in “back-office” operations.
Veterans Affairs, for example, will lose about a quarter of its workforce between 2011 and 2017 and largest proportional cut — about 32 per cent — will be among the public servants who provide benefits for disabled and other veterans.
By 2016, Canadian Food Inspection Agency will have lost 20 per cent of its workforce and 24 per cent of its budget. The food safety program, which handles inspections of packaging and facilities, is facing a 22-per-cent budget cut.
Employment and Social Development Canada, one of the largest federal departments, could lose about a quarter of its workforce. The branch, which helps Canadians access programs such as employment insurance, is facing significant cuts and reports show a growing number of calls from the public are left unanswered or unconnected.
The Conservatives, however, can go to the polls in 2015 with a balanced budget and a promise of tax cuts while touting themselves as good managers for cutting spending and returning the public service to the size it was when it came to power in 2006.
Estimated Job Losses 2012-2016 (Reports on Plans and Priorities)
Statistics Canada: 2,230 or 35 per cent of full-time positions
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada: 5,716 or 24 per cent.
Veterans Affairs: 872 or 24 per cent.
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada: 1,094 or 20 per cent
Canadian Food Inspection Agency: 1,407 or 20 per cent.
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