Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

I want to start by thanking you for providing me with an opportunity to participate in your pre-budget consultation.

I do so on behalf of more than 160,000 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the union representing the vast majority of Canadian workers employed by the federal government and its various departments and agencies.

In this short statement, I want to make a case for renewal of public services, public service delivery and public infrastructure.

• Have your say on the budget!

But first, I want to make a couple of comments on the revenue side of the equation.  From my perspective there is both good news and bad news on the fiscal front since your government was elected a little over a year ago. I believe that your decision to reduce revenue by almost $5 billion by cutting the GST was a mistake. On the other side of the coin, I would like to commend you for taking action last fall on the income trust file because failure to act would have continued and increased the leakage from the tax system putting even further pressure on your governments ability to deliver service to Canadians.

Clearly, budgets are about priorities. And in looking forward to your 2007 budget, I can’t help but look at the past and your government’s September 25, 2006 announcement of a 1 billion dollar reduction in government expenditures.

Not all cuts are created equally, and I would urge you to take a second look at the 2006 cuts that undermine equally and use your budget to, in the words of the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women’s Equality “Put Equality Back on Track”.

That means restoring operational funding for Status of Women Canada, and restoring funding for the Court Challenges program and the Law Reform Commission.

It means putting literacy back on the priority list, and investing more resources, not less to level the playing field for aboriginal peoples.

Minister, your second budget is about choices, and while a majority of Canadians would doubtlessly prefer to send less money to Ottawa, they also want—and overwhelmingly so—their government to do more on many fronts. And from conversations that I have had with our members and other Canadians from coast to coast to coast, they want more service, better service and more action from their government even if it results in a tax increase.

I would hasten to add that I fully appreciate that a tax increase is not on your agenda, and it doesn’t have to be since you inherited, and have maintained a strong balance sheet. But budgetary surpluses should be directed towards improving the level and quality of public services and not towards tax cuts.

Here’s why. When your government took office last year you inherited a public sector and a public infrastructure in crisis. You inherited antiquated and outdated equipment in departments and agencies mandated to defend Canadian Sovereignty and protect the health and safety of Canadians. You inherited a social infrastructure that has proved incapable of ending poverty, making child care accessible and affordable, and ensuring that Canadians have the training that they need to succeed in an increasingly global and competitive environment. You inherited a society where equality is only a dream for too many Canadians and where pensions and health care are inadequate and trending down. You inherited an economy which fails to account for human impact on the environment, and therefore requires strong regulation on the part of government.

Increased spending is part of the solution, not part of the problem. So too is public sector reform that ends the temporary and tenuous workforce that has taken hold in many federal departments and agencies providing insecure employment to your workforce and all too frequently inconsistent service to Canadians.

As your government prepares the 2007-2008 budget, we would urge you to commit to upgrading Canada’s physical and social infrastructure and making the public delivery of quality public services a priority. Canadians want no less than that; they deserve no less than that.

Thank you.