BC government begins plan to reduce public service by up to 57 percent

A BC Liberal government planning document obtained by the Public Eye web site confirms that the BC Liberal government is planning to reduce the public service by up to 57 percent over the next 10 years, and has earmarked a $75 million "transformation fund" to achieve that goal, the BCGEU said today.

The planning document states that, "given demographic projections that the BC Public Service will be 30 to 57 percent smaller within the next 10 years, we need to plan to deliver services with a shrinking labour force..." The document also confirms that, "the fund will be used for transformational opportunities where the approach to work can be re-tooled to deliver quality services to citizens with fewer staff."

"The BC Liberals' plan to shrink the public service is based on the false assumption that labour markets can't keep up with demand," said BCGEU president Darryl Walker. "Instead of focusing on recruitment and retention, in part by tapping into the million skilled immigrants who've applied to come to Canada, the Campbell administration would focus on making the public service unattractive to new Canadians and recent graduates, by shrinking the public service to less than half its present size.

"It seems clear that the BC Liberal government's claim to limit layoffs to 5 percent in the short term is only the first step in a larger strategy to dismantle public services. British Columbians deserve an answer from Gordon Campbell on what his real plans are for public services in B.C."

While the planning document does talk about bringing some limited services back into the public service, it is squarely focused on strategies to reduce the number of public service workers. Under a section titled "strategy development" the document asks, "what kinds of solutions make sense? i.e. green housing, co-op, intern, discontinuing, restructuring, technology, different model."

"Public service workers are already stretched to the limit after the 30 percent cuts they endured during the Campbell government's first term," Walker said. Achieving a further 57 percent cut would mean either abandoning essential public services, or massively contracting out services to the private sector."

Click to download Public Service Cuts backgrounder (PDF)