“The awful truth” according to Margaret Wente’s column in the Globe & Mail Oct. 13th is that socialized governments of all stripes have so piled on programs over the years that we are stuck with our heads in debt-sand .
Considering that paying civil servants must be three quarters of the cost of these programs, (and Wente points out that most of the programs don’t make a difference, except to those employed to deliver the services) it was a ‘responsible’ decision that Graham Steele arrived at when he made his 2010 budget address calling for a 10% reduction in civil servants.
As you suggest, governments only come to grips with reductions when they have a plan. If the present government’s plan was to reduce by 10% and haven’t done so in three years, then somebody is not doing their job.
We can stop the debt increase (unlike energy cost increases…) by reducing our expenses. Apparent is that the majority haven’t discovered the “awful truth”.
Bill – I take some exception with your leading editorial statement. Why should Canadian taxpayers be funding fringe ministries, like “Wican” within the Canadian prision system. Main-stream denominations are one-thing, but these are something else. IMO the feds are doing the right thing here.
Today’s technology should be helping our politicians of every party and every taxpayer be able to “see” what their government does, but it ain’t happening . Go to any government website and look for an organization chart, a list of employees and job classifications, a simple revenue and expense statement , and a simple list of things they have done by year for the last 3 years . Best of luck. Why should the bureaucracy try to help you see their empires. Now Dexter allowed Paris to add more people,more expense to tourism by creating a whole new “agency” . The industry was not consulted , there isn’t a proposal on the table yet the whole operation is in place heading for new digs in Wolfville. All this while they decide to add a 2 % tax to every room night sold on Cape Breton where sales have been falling for years . Good math . So by hiding such proposals , by hiding the organization charts , the true revenue and expenses, the true “output” the politicians and bureaucrats can keep avoiding the issue . Time for transparency !!!!!! It’s your money after all. They like to call you a partner or a stake holder and then treat you like the enemy.
Well the old saying of roads being paved with good intentions applies to this NDP government. Reduction in public employees will be hard not only for a party of organized labor but it is also very hard for any party facing a block of civil servants concentrated in one large city. Organized Labor now accuses their white knight party of being right wing. With the economic message coming out of Europe and America on big government there is little option even for a left of center government. In my opinion the moving of departments,to where the action is, held great intentions by this government making common sense.Living outside the HRM bubble is hard for civil servants to stomach it seems but it really costs are in productivity. Hardly a capital city in the Americas dominates a province or state like HRM does Nova Scotia. In the recent words of a great Nova Scotian I admire , Sir Graham Day, I love civil servants but there are just too many of them in this province. The practice of gathering government agencies in HRM has been at the expense not only to Rural Nova Scotia but to the HRM itself. Prior to 1900 Halifax was an entrepreneurial incubator that rivaled any the western hemisphere. Samuel Cunard, known across the globe for the shipping line, started the Imperial Bank for Commerce in Halifax. Both the Royal Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia started in Halifax. Today, with the exception of ambitious newcomers to the province, we dont have that in the HRM any longer. Rural Nova Scotia however has no option but to create the next Sobeys, The Braggs and the Jodreys as we cannot afford apathy or false sense of security with our communities. Halifax County has even grown so complacent that there has not been a Premier born from the county since 1933 with the only except being the recent election of Darrell Dexter. The oddity of Halifax ,existing as a capital city, is striking when you consider territories that have relocated capital cities to new unsettled rural areas when a port settlement has grown too large. A couple of countries in Latin America have started new capitals . Africa has had that experience as well. Many states in the US the largest populated city is indeed not the capital as they learn economically it makes sense to reduce government concentration in one centre. Augusta, Hartford, Concord and Albany all state capitals in our part of the world. Not one an old port city nor the largest population centre in their respective states.
“The awful truth” according to Margaret Wente’s column in the Globe & Mail Oct. 13th is that socialized governments of all stripes have so piled on programs over the years that we are stuck with our heads in debt-sand .
Considering that paying civil servants must be three quarters of the cost of these programs, (and Wente points out that most of the programs don’t make a difference, except to those employed to deliver the services) it was a ‘responsible’ decision that Graham Steele arrived at when he made his 2010 budget address calling for a 10% reduction in civil servants.
As you suggest, governments only come to grips with reductions when they have a plan. If the present government’s plan was to reduce by 10% and haven’t done so in three years, then somebody is not doing their job.
We can stop the debt increase (unlike energy cost increases…) by reducing our expenses. Apparent is that the majority haven’t discovered the “awful truth”.
gordon stanfield | October 15, 2012 |
Bill – I take some exception with your leading editorial statement. Why should Canadian taxpayers be funding fringe ministries, like “Wican” within the Canadian prision system. Main-stream denominations are one-thing, but these are something else. IMO the feds are doing the right thing here.
Harold | October 14, 2012 |
Today’s technology should be helping our politicians of every party and every taxpayer be able to “see” what their government does, but it ain’t happening . Go to any government website and look for an organization chart, a list of employees and job classifications, a simple revenue and expense statement , and a simple list of things they have done by year for the last 3 years . Best of luck. Why should the bureaucracy try to help you see their empires. Now Dexter allowed Paris to add more people,more expense to tourism by creating a whole new “agency” . The industry was not consulted , there isn’t a proposal on the table yet the whole operation is in place heading for new digs in Wolfville. All this while they decide to add a 2 % tax to every room night sold on Cape Breton where sales have been falling for years . Good math . So by hiding such proposals , by hiding the organization charts , the true revenue and expenses, the true “output” the politicians and bureaucrats can keep avoiding the issue . Time for transparency !!!!!! It’s your money after all. They like to call you a partner or a stake holder and then treat you like the enemy.
cabottrail | October 13, 2012 |
Well the old saying of roads being paved with good intentions applies to this NDP government. Reduction in public employees will be hard not only for a party of organized labor but it is also very hard for any party facing a block of civil servants concentrated in one large city. Organized Labor now accuses their white knight party of being right wing. With the economic message coming out of Europe and America on big government there is little option even for a left of center government. In my opinion the moving of departments,to where the action is, held great intentions by this government making common sense.Living outside the HRM bubble is hard for civil servants to stomach it seems but it really costs are in productivity. Hardly a capital city in the Americas dominates a province or state like HRM does Nova Scotia. In the recent words of a great Nova Scotian I admire , Sir Graham Day, I love civil servants but there are just too many of them in this province. The practice of gathering government agencies in HRM has been at the expense not only to Rural Nova Scotia but to the HRM itself. Prior to 1900 Halifax was an entrepreneurial incubator that rivaled any the western hemisphere. Samuel Cunard, known across the globe for the shipping line, started the Imperial Bank for Commerce in Halifax. Both the Royal Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia started in Halifax. Today, with the exception of ambitious newcomers to the province, we dont have that in the HRM any longer. Rural Nova Scotia however has no option but to create the next Sobeys, The Braggs and the Jodreys as we cannot afford apathy or false sense of security with our communities. Halifax County has even grown so complacent that there has not been a Premier born from the county since 1933 with the only except being the recent election of Darrell Dexter. The oddity of Halifax ,existing as a capital city, is striking when you consider territories that have relocated capital cities to new unsettled rural areas when a port settlement has grown too large. A couple of countries in Latin America have started new capitals . Africa has had that experience as well. Many states in the US the largest populated city is indeed not the capital as they learn economically it makes sense to reduce government concentration in one centre. Augusta, Hartford, Concord and Albany all state capitals in our part of the world. Not one an old port city nor the largest population centre in their respective states.
Paul | October 13, 2012 |