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Your Future -- Your Workplace
Going Public in Our Communities:
Fact Sheet: "Government On-Line" - Increased Services to Canadians or Cyber-Sellout"Government On-Line" (GOL) is the federal government initiative aimed at putting services and information for citizens and businesses on the Internet. A lot of public money and resources are being spent to make this happen. The government intends to deliver GOL in three steps:
The Public Service Alliance of Canada supports changes that will make public services more accessible to the Canadian public. We are concerned however that this initiative although having a potential to increase services to Canadians will instead:
Unequal access to public services The freedom of the Internet offers the possibility of a more democratic society. However, in order for the Internet to contribute to democracy, the lawmakers of the country have to pass laws that allow equal access to all public services including the Internet. Instead governments, especially those in North America, have been cutting public services. Instead of using the Internet to create an equal and democratic society for all people, the main thrust of GOL is to use it to help increase international profits. Many Canadians don’t even have houses to live in, let alone computers with which to access services. Many Canadians will become disenfranchised because they do not have access to computers. Although the government insists that they will not eliminate face to face services when the government goes on-line, there is cause for concern. These services have been consistently cut back over the last decade. GOL will just make that process easier. If "Government on-Line" services are privatized, there is even more cause for concern. Private companies providing public services will prefer the cheapest delivery route, and would not hesitate to abandon face to face delivery where possible. Although they haven’t been privatized yet, the move to computers to access job opportunities instead of face to face interaction with real people at Canada Employment Centres is clear evidence of the tendency. Like a private business, the main rationale for this approach is the bottom line. Increased privatization of public services In fact, "Government on-Line" services are likely to be privatized. Although the government says it does not consider "Government on-Line" to be a downsizing exercise it is consciously designing the initiative to be a privatization exercise. The intent is to provide this service through partnerships with private industry. Partnership with business is just another way of saying privatization. TB President Lucienne Robillard stated that the government will look at relaxing some of its stiff procurement rules to help speed the project. If the goal was not to privatize the service, there would be no need to relax procurement rules. The GATS is a further example of this move by governments to privatize. Like the MAI, it gives transnationals inordinate power. According to research obtained through the Council of Canadians "the U.S. has identified a goal of adopting worldwide rules for a global non-regulatory, market-oriented E-commerce regime." Canada does not seem to have disagreed with this approach although billions of dollars every year could be lost if taxes are removed from this kind of trade, leaving less money for public services and a greater tax burden on working women and men. If the FTAA and the GATS are successfully negotiated, transnational service corporations will gain competitive rights to all the services that the government provides, including electronic services, and will have the right to sue any government that tries to ensure that the services remain public for financial compensation. The Canadian government not only supports the FTAA but is one of its main proponents. Public Service jobs will either become private sector jobs or will be lost depending on the skill sets required by the privatized entity that is contracted to deliver the service. Partnering is a key proponent in the government’s new Alternate Service Delivery (ASD or contracting-out) policy. Some federal government documents are even calling GOL an alternative service delivery initiative. Compromise the quality of public services and public service work Public Service workers can look forward to more call centre work which, in the private sector, has been lower paid and harder to unionize. While some workers will have more interesting and well-paid jobs, many more will likely see their jobs downgraded as transnationals push for international wage convergence. Many federal, provincial and municipal public service workers may lose their jobs when they are merged into one delivery service in accordance with the third step in the GOL initiative. A private service delivery company can deliver services for different levels of government simultaneously where the Federal government would have to attend to constitutional issues. Transnationals know no borders - neither international or provincial. It will be bad for the Canadian public as more and more of their tax dollars are directed towards transnational profits instead of service to Canadians. In his ten year summary the Auditor General commented on the troubling trend of the Liberals to create new agencies "just outside the government's orbit," which the Auditor General is not permitted to investigate. "They're still spending public money and they should receive the same scrutiny as government departments," he continued. GOL can create a substantial risk to the privacy and the confidentiality of information held by the government on individuals. This risk is heightened if the body holding the information is privately owned and free from public scrutiny or regulation. Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada are challenged by the opportunities that technology can offer workers and the Canadian public. The Public Service Alliance of Canada will:
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