November 15, 2011

ATLANTIC CANADA’S LOSSES ARE OTTAWA’S GAINS

In these difficult economic times, every job is precious, both to the people who need the work to support themselves and their families, and to the economy in general. Nowhere is this truer than here in Atlantic Canada where this current economy has resulted in thousands of our young people pulling up stakes and heading west. However, while the Government of Canada has been eliminating federal government jobs in Atlantic Canada, it has been on a hiring binge in other parts of the country.

According to figures provided by the Treasury Board in response to a Written Question I filed in the Senate, federal government employment in Atlantic Canada shrank by 430 jobs between 2009 and 2011; and yet, during that same time period, federal government jobs increased over 5% in the Ottawa area and 3% nationwide.

Why was Atlantic Canada federal government employment lower by hundreds of jobs in 2011 than in 2009? And why were government MP’s and ministers from our region allowing this to happen?

Then came the federal government’s recent plan to reduce the deficit by shrinking the size of government; if our government MP’s could not protect this region during a time of massive expansion in federal employment, what confidence should we have that they can be any more effective in saving federal government jobs in Atlantic Canada in this time of cutbacks?

Obviously government cannot solve the problem of unemployment. Meaningful economic development can only come from a healthy balanced economy that respects and welcomes the role of a robust private sector to invest the time and money to create the jobs that will keep Atlantic Canadians here to build their future.

However, a balanced economy means that there is an important role for our government to play. In addition to a range of programs from tax policy to procurement, the federal government is Canada’s largest employer: even excluding the military and the RCMP, over a quarter of a million people are employed by the Government of Canada. These jobs, and the purchasing power they represent, make the federal government an important player in the Canadian economy, and the way those jobs are distributed across Canada has a major impact on regional economies.

Moving government employment away from Ottawa has served to spread these jobs - and the benefits derived from them – throughout the country. Clearly, federal government jobs can play an important role in the economy of a region like Atlantic Canada, and the best example of the benefits of decentralization is the move of Veterans Affairs Canada National Headquarters from Ottawa to Charlottetown.

Veterans Affairs Canada is the only government department with its National Headquarters located outside the Ottawa area, and thirty years after Veterans Affairs Canada employees were relocated to Prince Edward Island, the benefits to the region are undisputable. In 2010, Veterans Affairs Canada had 1,339 full-time employees in Prince Edward Island and an annual payroll in the province of $100 million (2009-2010 fiscal year).

If Atlantic Canadians lost jobs in our region when in recent years the National Government was ramping up employment in other parts of the country, will we still have federal government employment opportunities here in a time of restraint?

It would appear that senior government officials based in Ottawa have been seeking to preserve, expand and protect federal government employment in Ottawa at the expense of the regions, especially when considering that three-quarters of the highest paying “EX level” jobs are located in the Ottawa area. A recent example of this centralization is the move of the position of Director General of Communications for Veterans Affairs Canada from VAC headquarters in Charlottetown to Ottawa. The position, which pays up to $149,000 per year, is the only Director General of Communications for a federal department not located at that department’s national headquarters. Thus, it is not only the number of jobs being lost; it is the high-paying nature of the jobs.

We need to ask our federal representatives, like Ministers Gail Shea and Peter MacKay, who sat around the Cabinet table while this was occurring: why did you let this happen on your watch? And what are you going to do to reverse this trend?

If the federal government wants to ensure that Atlantic Canada is spared undue federal government job cuts, they will support the Royal Canadian Legion, which wants Canada to follow the example set by the Obama administration in the United States by promising to make all veterans programs exempt from reductions in government spending. To quote the President of the Royal Canadian Legion, Patricia Varga: “Getting our financial house in order should not be done on the backs of our wounded warriors and their families.”

If the Veterans Affairs budget is spared, then Atlantic Canada could avoid further disproportionate cuts to federal government employment.

The federal government must recognize that it is responsible for – and to – the whole of Canada. Fairness dictates that Atlantic Canada should not suffer disproportionately while other parts of the country carry on as usual.

Percy Downe is a Senator from Charlottetown.