Harper Job Cuts Provide Perfect Opportunity for Revenge

On the front page of yesterday's Toronto Star, Les Whittington and Bruce Campion-Smith reveal the thousands of civil services jobs being cut by the Harper government.  This after an election promise made by John Baird not to make those cuts.

What he really meant to say was vote for us and if we get another minority, those jobs will be safe.  Silly enough to give us a majority, and you're on your own.

Running down the list, it's easy to see why the various departments have been targeted.

Government Services - losing 72 auditors as part of the 687 getting the axe.  Harper hates auditors.

Environment Canada - losing 300 scientists and meteorologists.  Harper hates scientists and has decided that we don't need people sitting around watching meteors all day (she says tongue in cheek).

Fisheries and Oceans - losing 150.  Now that he has allowed mining companies to dump toxic waste into our waterways, and multinational corporations to disease our fish, what's the point?  I hear that lice infested three-eyed salmon will become a delicacy.

The National Gallery of Canada - After trying to move many of our treasures to a corporation in Calgary, employees here only get in his way.  Besides he has already created a National art  gallery after plastering the walls with photos of himself.

Human Resources and Skills development will lose almost 4,000, Canadian Heritage, 579, Statistics Canada (who needs statistics?) 725, RCMP 1,106, Veterans Affairs, 53 (at a time when vets returning from Afghanistan need help), Museum of Civilization, the list goes on.

I know that the right-wing is salivating, but hold on there boys.  In the five years that Harper has been in office, the public service grew by 45% as he had a lot of patronage appointments to fill. (Public sector swelled under Tories: Number of public servants far outpaced population growth,  Macleans,  November 30, 2011)  Spending also increased from $209 billion when he took power, to a whopping $274 billion, and the budget for the PMO has risen at a rate of $10 million annually.

Like Ronald Reagan, Harper was never really a small government guy.  A bloated cabinet and the addition of Parliamentary secretaries, are only a fraction of the people this man needs to make him look good.  Image consultants, photographers, videographers (Taxpayers on hook for $1.7-million as PMO rolls out video, By Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press, December 08, 2009), the largest communications staff of any prime minister, all work to make him look prime ministerial.

This government also increased the use of private consultants, after it was discovered that they outspent all others on opinion polls.  “The reality is the Conservatives have increased spending on consultants by $3 billion per year since taking office."  These consultants are doing the jobs once performed by cabinet ministers and their staff. 

Under Harper, a cabinet minister has one job and one job only.  To do what he tells them to do.

Flaherty is also promising that many vital public services will be cut so that Harper and his team can continue to live the lavish lifestyle they have grown accustomed to.

Instead of paying $90,000 per day to a private consultant who is supposed to save us money (?), this government should just start doing their job, instead of wasting so much taxpayer money, to provide the image that they are doing their job.
 
This sounds like John Baird and Ontario under Mike Harris.  Baird hired a consulting service to help him save money when he headed Social Service.  It cost Ontarians four to one, what it would have cost had he just left well enough alone.