September 16th 2015

PEI Federal Government Job Losses are Ottawa’s Gain

Between 2008 and 2014, over 1,780 federal government jobs have been eliminated in Atlantic Canada and more than 360 of those jobs were in Prince Edward Island. During the exact same time period, the Ottawa area had their federal job employment increase by 1,835 positions.

These figures from the Public Service Commission of Canada tell a disturbing story. In a region suffering high unemployment and a shortage of secure jobs, Atlantic Canadians have lost federal government positions at the very same time the Ottawa area has increased their number of federal jobs.

If it was announced that 362 permanent full time jobs with good wages, pensions, medical benefits and dental benefits were coming to Prince Edward Island, with a yearly payroll of over            $21 million, it would be front page news in the Guardian. Unfortunately, that is what has been lost to our province in the last six years. The loss to Prince Edward Island of a federal payroll of over $100 million dollars since 2008 means that money is not circulating in our economy to buy cars, homes, clothing, all of which contribute to building our economy and creating and maintaining other jobs in the service sector.

Federal government job losses in Prince Edward Island include positions at Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, Correctional Services Canada, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Veterans Affairs Canada, Health Canada, Industry Canada, Transport Canada; the list goes on and on.

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 more true than here in Prince Edward Island, where this current economy has resulted in thousands of our citizens leaving home.

Obviously, government alone 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 Islanders 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.

In the past, 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.

If the federal government was reducing jobs equally across Canada, Islanders would understand that we must absorb our share of the cuts. But as the numbers from the Public Service Commission show, that is not the case.

During the current federal election campaign, there are a number of important issues where the federal leaders and their candidates need to clearly state their positions. It seems to me that a commitment to return those jobs and salaries back to Prince Edward Island should be a priority.

Percy Downe is a Senator from Charlottetown.