City renews calls for fairness in how federal job cuts implemented

Officials with the City of Charlottetown say they are concerned cuts at Veterans Affairs Canada are just the tip of the iceberg.

Recent reports that 55 VAC employees have learned that their jobs are being eliminated is a worrisome sign of things to come, said Mayor Clifford Lee.

“It is difficult to understand why the Government of Canada believes that Prince Edward Island should have to shoulder such a disproportionately large share of cuts,” said Lee. “We would hope to see a greater measure of fairness in how these cuts get rolled out.”

Coun. Cecil Villard was one of the chairpersons of an ad-hoc taskforce that commissioned research into the potential scope and impact of federal job cuts on Prince Edward Island. The taskforce included the City of Charlottetown, the Government of Prince Edward Island and two federal unions.

Released in June of 2012, the report completed by McInnes Cooper found that as much as 10-12 per cent of federal employees could lose their jobs on PEI, costing the Island economy between $50-60 million per year.

“Job cuts are impacting the entire Island. Losses of positions at VAC in Charlottetown have been mirrored by significant losses at Service Canada in Montague, and at the Tax Centre in Summerside,” said Villard. “In total, we believe that as many as 450 federal jobs are set to be eliminated.”

While Villard recognizes that some federal job cuts are inevitable as the federal government looks to balance the books, he said he agrees that the issue is one of fairness.

“Nationally, we know that the Government of Canada is cutting 4.8 per cent of its workforce. To cut upwards of 12 per cent of the federal workforce on the Island is simply unfair,” he said.

Listening to Islanders Whine: - January 21, 2013 at 17:22:35

Clifford Lee cheered when head office for DVA came to Charlottetown. No one complained when they built their monstrosity down town. No one worried about whether veterans were helped, just that there were jobs. Well the big wheel has come around and between this boot in the butt and the EI cuts, Islanders are about to see what a joke their political leaders are. This is ONLY THE BEGINNING Cliffy. You and Boy Ghiz are about to see a lot more hurt to your economy this year. Watch and learn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Another Perspective: - January 21, 2013 at 12:02:23

Would everyone rather that the fedral government keep running huge deficits, driving up the national debt, and leading Canada to be nearing bank ruptcy like Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and others or be like facing Fiscal Cliffs like the US? Like or hate Harper, his government has managed the Canadian economy to where it is one of the most stable in the WORLD! Yes, the WORLD. And yet at the same time we continue to re-elect Ghiz who has driven the PEI economy into the ground by increasing or provincial Debt by almost 50% and running deficits that are staggering! Give your heads a shake people. Everyobe slams harper, but if the NDP or Liberals were in power, one of two things would be happening - they would either be driving the deficits and debt through the roof, bankrupting the country, or they would be doing the same cuts. At least Harper has the courage to do what the country needs, whither it makes him popular or not.

SAP

- January 21, 2013 at 13:47:31

Exactly, you cannot keep unneeded jobs, otherwise it is just government spending that will ruin us. greece had a lot of nice government jobs and programs too, but not enough people to pay for them, and look what has happened there.The only shame in all of this, is that the same scrutiny should go all the way to the PMO, including MP's, and provincially as well with our MLA's. That unfortunately won't happen.

Island Veteran: - January 21, 2013 at 10:20:25

Nice to see that Charlottetown FINALLY WOKE UP to what Island Veterans have been protesting since October 2012.

JohnW.A.Curtis: - January 21, 2013 at 10:13:46

The only way to make P.E.I. have province is to elect politicians who drive the private sector, P.E.I. isn't bein treated unfairly with the federal job cuts. it is unfair for a civil sevant to retire at age 55 and the rest of Canadians retired at age 65 or age 67

Pete: - January 21, 2013 at 08:58:39

"Recent reports that 55 VAC employees have learned that their jobs are being eliminated". Those recent reports are incorrect. Whether misunderstood by the media or misrepresented by the PSAC representative interviewed, there are only 22 positions being lost in Charlottetown in this wave of cutbacks. The number of 55 is the number of employees "affected". Perhaps the "affected" concept is hard to understand by those in the private sector? Here is an example of how it works. If it is determined that a certain workgroup of, say six employees, is overstaffed by 3, all six employees in that workgroup are "affected" but three will retain their jobs. The process allows all six employees in the workgroup to make decisions based upon their personal circumstances about whether they will voluntarily retire, resign, transfer or take advantage of other options. Or try to remain with the workgroup. So while 55 employees are "affected" in this wave, 33 of them will still be employed at the end of the day. That said, this is only the first wave of cutbacks. Over the next 3 years, there will be plenty more for Islanders (and veterans) to be concerned about :-(

fed up: - January 21, 2013 at 07:40:10

harper hates pei more to come unless we line up and kiss his ass in the next election.

peier: - January 21, 2013 at 06:43:48

Mayor Lee can't understand the disproportionality of the cuts? Mr Mayor, could it be the Charlottetown has a disproportionate number of employees at VAC? Also, I dont recall anyone crying and moaning when the jobs came to Charlottetown......just sayin'.....yet another opportunity for Mayor Lee to cry about how unfair it is to the city.....lolol

peier: - January 21, 2013 at 06:43:20

Pete

- January 21, 2013 at 09:03:01

Peier, it stands to reason that Charlottetown would have a "disproportionate number of employees at VAC" since Charlottetown houses the headquarters of VAC, does it not?
Pete

- January 21, 2013 at 10:05:33

... and with fewer "over-paid" DVA jobs, I am sure that business will certainly pick up for the small business sector with that much less money circulating in the Island economy. And I'm sure that the small business sector (and those employed in that sector) will also be more than willing to pick up the shortfall in municipal and provincial taxes that would be created by "a lot more jobs cut".

Joe Blow: - January 21, 2013 at 02:08:44

Yeah....PEI is definitely getting the short end of the stick in these job cuts!! Its just another way Harper likes to bully PEI. He is trying to force every Islander to pack up and leave PEI and head out to Harperland Alberta and work in the oil fields to help destroy the earth and the environment while he makes himself and a lot of friends rich. Harper doesn't care about the Maritimes and doesn't plan on doing anything to help the Atlantic provinces. Its a shame that Harper insists on destroying Canada except for his beloved Alberta.

Graduate: - January 20, 2013 at 20:59:51

Do you understand that the head office is in Charlottetown! The Government has to balance their budget like every other Government. Maybe the city government should focus on their own budget as they have their own troubles in meeting their financial commitments. That is the problem all governments want everything , but when they go to cut everyone doesn't want to cut anything.

Misunderstanding? Or misrepresentation?: - January 20, 2013 at 20:54:22

Ms. Buell has been quoting that 55 jobs are being eliminated from the Department of Veterans Affairs in Charlottetown. While that may be true in the future, at the present time, there are 55 positions "affected" and 22 of them will be eliminated. For example, there may be a work group of five people doing essentially the same job and it has been determined that the work can be done with four. All five positions are "affected", but only one may be eliminated, and that can happen in a number of different ways, such as voluntary retirement, or alternation for example. Although losing 22 postions in the Charlottetown job market is never a good thing , I am sure that we would like all government departments to run as efficiently as possible and provide the services needed by the clientele. Providing the media with misleading information is not productive.

John W. A. Curtis: - January 20, 2013 at 20:49:59

Island politicians are making false claims that federal job cuts aren't disproportionate. It is time to get rid of fourteen week pogey politicians and get private sector jobs on P.E.I.

vick: - January 20, 2013 at 20:48:32

wow........the jobs that are being cut are retirement and bs contracts .........stop making a mountain out of a mole here.............take care of the hundreds of jobs that are lost with the small sector, they are the ones who make up the majority of jobs in this province........DVA are over paid and there should be alot more jobs cut!

don: - January 20, 2013 at 19:17:31

well you have he powerful liberal from ch'town and Easter, to step in and they have the POWER to ORDER this to stop. you wanted the 3rd place liberals to be in Ottawa to look after your needs to sit back and shut up.

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City renews calls for fairness in how federal job cuts implemented

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