Liberals warned of a declining Canada...

[shockedcanadian]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/786432--liberals-warned-of-a-declining-canada?bn=1


Is this something new? Surprise anyone? Big government overpaying millions of employee with fat pensions to boot while the single mother of 3 works 2 part-time jobs without benefits. I suppose politicians like to cover their eyes and point to other nations shortcomings and wait until it is too late before actually addressing issues in Canada.

Case in point, provincial GST collectors moved to Federal. They do the same job, same pay. They received a severance for moving to the feds, even though they didnt even lose their job, they just change the email address on their business cards. Some payments were as much as $45000. The disregard for taxpayers money is endless...I suppose I wouldn't care too much either if I was one of those benefitting.

[Lucy Goosey]

1. How did you turn that article into a rant about government employees?

First of all, that wasn't really what the article was about.

Secondly, in my 10 years in the (federal) public service, I've had many colleagues who are single parents, so I don't know why you're implying that single motherhood and government jobs are mutually exclusive.

I know that we make a convenient scapegoat, but the fact is that public servant salaries are simply not responsible for the poor economic prospects of the whole country. Not to mention that hiring and salaries have been frozen for us for now anyway. Oh, and we aren't "overpaid," as a group.

I don't know anything about the GST collectors, and if it happened as you describe, it was really stupid, but it's not something that happens a lot, nor is it something that has massive national economic impact.

[shockedcanadian]

2. To me it's elementary...

If you took offense to my remarks, that was not the intention, unless you are a politician, than you can suspect that these words were meant for you. Governments spend tax dollars on labour costs among other things and they are spending way beyond their (our) means, the future of working Canadians who pay into their Pension depends proper management. The private sector only sees funds in sweetheart deals, corporate welfare, or, in the case of GM, loan/bailout welfare. I am not in favour of these activities either. Now Mr, Flaherty is looking for feedback from Canadians on how to fix the pension plan in Canada, as if somehow the aveage Joe destroyed it. I suspected we were going in this direction when I first heard of the TFSA, alot of Canadians will have to fend for their own retirement, in today's climate of reduced hours, benefits and downward wage pressures, this is very difficult. Now, there is no doubt that increased life expectancies have had a major impact on the plan to address Canadians needs, but nonetheless, people are paid good money to understand these issues and figure them out.

The country is running a major deficit. I do not think it is a general government employee per se that is stressing the system, but as a whole, it is definitely a factor. This isn't conveniently scapegoating, this is a fact. The higher up one's position, the worse the strain on the system. If you are meaning to suggest that the working conditions for the single mother working in a government position are equal to a single mother working retail, well, lets just say we can disagree there. The question I have is, why does one person deserve such a nice employment package, while the other does not? Outside of specific educational requirements, there is not much difference between the workers in entry level positions, but you can be sure there is a makor difference in paycheques, benefits and work/life balance.

The socialist state that defined Canada is no longer sustainable due to this abuse and mismanagement by government at all levels. What bothers me the most is the lack of accountability for all of the wastage. The article simply states just how poorly Canada competes on the efficiency scale, Canada is grossly behind with no improvement in sight. Politicians scream that the private sector needs to ramp up their R&D, meanwhile the public sector make further cuts to grants to the private sector and has not shown itself to be a major leader in R&D and patent research. Politians who receive a very favourable pension and freely spend taxpayers money (while using their expense accounts as if the money grew on trees) bother me and many others to no end. The fact that some employees received the severance was a case in point (I believe there were 1500 employees in all who received severance and a new position with the feds). A General manager of a hockey team cannot freely spend as much of the owners money as he pleases, there are limits. It's simple, your current employer is spending alot more money than should be spent, and there is nothing left for such investments in R&D that countries utilize with their local businesses to create jobs and compete Internationally.