Cuts to the Federal Civil Service

While I can understand Harper’s desire to cut federal expenditures by making massive cuts to the Federal Civil Service, I don’t think most Canadians have grasped what it will mean to them in real terms.

First, the wait times for services will increase dramatically. You think the service is slow now? Just wait until it takes twice as long to get the same service because only half the people will be doing the work.

Second, our lives will become less safe. Services that we have always taken for granted – like inspections of food providers – will be pretty much a thing of the past. Remember the listeria outbreak in 2008? People died, right? Well, we better get used to it, because dramatic cuts are being planned across the board and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will not be exempt. From what I’ve heard, these companies that package meat, as well as other foods, will be more self-regulating. If I wasn’t allergic to legumes, I would turn vegetarian.

Third, the unemployment rates will rise in all the areas that have government departments. Remember the decentralisation programs of the 1970s? There are departments all across Canada now. Yes, Ottawa will be hard hit, but so will other areas. Many of these people will not be able to find work in their fields.

Fourth, we are going to lose many of the brilliant minds who provide services and information to public – for free. I’m thinking specifically of NRC, Health and Welfare, and the Transportation Safety Board. These are people who have spent their lives working in one area. Other countries are begging for people in these fields, and more than willing to pay relocation costs. Once these people are gone, there will be no turning back. Sure, there will be people to replace them eventually, and I believe that they will have to be replaced, but the new people (as enthusiastic and hard working as their predecessors) won’t have the same level of expertise. It will take at least a work generation (about 30-40 years) to get back to the level we were at before Harper’s cuts were put into effect.

I understand that many Canadians believe that Federal Civil Servants are a lazy bunch, but I have seen them at work, putting in long hours of unpaid overtime to try to make Canada a better place. Many of them take courses on their own time and their own dime in order to up their qualifications. Sure, like any other company, there are problems who sneak in under the radar, but they are dealt with – just like they are dealt with in the private sector.

I truly believe that, when Canadians realise what has been done to the services they are accustomed to, they are going to scream bloody murder. But it will be too late.