News release

February 23, 2005

Budget offers no guarantee of improvement
of public services

OTTAWA - The new Federal Budget is no guarantee of better quality of public services to Canadians, says the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

“We expected from this budget not only an improvement in services and programs, but also a clear vision and a strong commitment from the government for essential public services,” says PSAC President Nycole Turmel. “Instead, this budget commits no new money to existing programs, but a continuation of the expenditure review that will cut $11 billion from existing programs for re-allocation to what the government calls higher-priority spending.”

Turmel also points out that some departments and agencies currently suffer from lack of funding, affecting core programs and services such as health protection, borders and food inspection.

“Yet another re-organization of the public service will have a negative impact on the quality of services to the public,” says Turmel. “Since 1993, public service workers have been put through re-organization after re-organization, but have they really worked? We don’t think so. This new re-organization plan will cause further turmoil among public service workers, and they have not even recovered from the disastrous program review of the mid-90s.”

The creation of “one-stop shop” for many federal services, called Services Canada, may seem on the surface to promise better access. But what will the impact be on the elderly or those in poverty whose situations are more complex? “Public service workers in these centres will have to know numerous laws and regulations,” says Turmel. “In our experience with our members at call-centres, we’ve observed that workers aren’t given adequate time to even learn changes to one piece of legislation. We’re afraid that the quality of services will be compromised by the initiative to place various services under one roof.”

Furthermore, the budget projects significant job cuts in the public service.

“Is the government aware of retention problems which will peak in 2008 and that this is cutting service delivery at a time of rapid population growth?” asked Turmel. “What is the long-term vision of this government that is poised to cut some jobs now which it will have to re-hire in three years?”

“This budget shows that the Martin government has not learned from the past,” concludes Turmel. “Their goal of saving through greater efficiency and new ways of doing things is mere wishful thinking. To ensure quality public service, they need to make a sufficient investment to programs and to provide the necessary tools to public service workers. Sadly, this budget fails because the government looked first at cost savings rather than improving quality of services to Canadians.”

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For information: Louise Laporte, PSAC communications officer,
(613) 560-4287 or (613) 558-4975

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