Public service union members were shocked after federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty summoned university students to public service amid cuts to government spending likely to create waves of layoffs.
In the speech to the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in London, Flaherty extolled the virtues of public service, calling it “the most satisfying and personally enriching career you will ever find.”
“It’s hypocritical,” says Sharon De Sousa, regional vice-president of Public Service Alliance of Canada. “How can you recommend a profession that you will later slash? It makes no sense.”
De Sousa says the government has announced more than 1,000 job cuts at Environment Canada, Service Canada and the Department of National Defence, which will likely affect new graduates.
“Cuts are coming fast and furious in every department. But no one knows just when they will come,” she says.
The federal government recently announced it will dole out bonuses to senior bureaucrats who make spending cuts, which inevitably means more layoffs.
“Ideology is what’s dictating (the government’s) decisions,” says Don Burns, vice-president at the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. “The Harper government believes in small government. It’s not a matter of efficiency. Canadians will have to get used to a lack of programs and services.”
Ian Lee, a professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business defends Tory cuts to government spending because the current economic climate in Canada is “unsustainable.”
“Flaherty understands that political leadership requires tough decisions. If something is unsustainable then you must confront it . . . It’s not something that can be addressed down the road,” says Lee.
He says the economic tumult in Europe emerged because weak political leadership neglected signs of economic trouble.
“Flaherty’s speech is timely because we have this real time experiment before our eyes: we’re watching Europe implode,” adding that public service is a tool to serve the greater public good, not to create jobs for Canadians.
“I think the cuts are extreme. They’re making big mistakes,” says Gillian Walker, 28, who works for Environment Canada. “It’s really obvious to me.”
Walker has worked for Environment Canada for the past five years and says there is a large gap between young and retiring senior bureaucrats, who have the experience and knowledge, from the last federal hiring freeze.
“Young people aren’t ready to take over,” she says.
Eric Perrien, 35, who works for Public Service and Labour Relations, says he disagrees with Flaherty’s notion of civil service as a “higher calling.”
“I started to work for the government because it presented a good career plan and job security,” he says.
According to Perrien, cutbacks are necessary because of the worldwide financial problems. “There has to be changes,” he says. Though he’s not worried about his job, “If you work hard and show that you’re indispensable you should be fine.”