Everywhere you look: a case for smaller government

[Anonymous]

Bill C-60, the federal government's budget-implementation legislation, gives Cabinet the power to set collective bargaining terms, including wages, for Crown corporations that once operated at arm's length — such as Canada Post, VIA Rail, and the CBC. It's a welcome development.

 

Public sector salaries currently enjoy a 12% wage premium over non-unionized private sector jobs, and a 9% premium over unionized ones, according to research published in April 2013 by the Fraser Institute. That study confirms others published by the Montreal Economic Institute, on the subject of municipal workers in Montreal, in 2012; by the C.D. Howe Institute, on the discrepancy between public and private pensions, in 2008; and by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, on the gap between public and private sector wages, also in 2008.

 

These inflated public-sector wages make it impossible for governments to contain labour costs. They also create a double-standard for the taxpayers who pay those high salaries, while receiving lower pay for the same jobs in the private sector.



But opposition parties see more than cost-cutting in the government's plans — they smell a host of hidden agendas. These include the end of the CBC's journalistic independence, if not the end of the CBC itself. "These guys have their sights set on the public broadcaster, and as much as the Heritage Minister wants to be the warm and fuzzy face of Heritage for this government, he's got a den of howling wolves behind him who want to see this thing [the CBC] go," says NDP Heritage Critic Andrew Cash.

 

With regard to VIA, rumours of partial privatization have been swirling for over a year, despite government denials, due to the company's continued need for heavy state subsidies. And when it comes to Canada Post, just last week the Conference Board of Canada issued a report warning that unless the Crown Corporation stopped losing money — by ditching door-to-door delivery, cutting labour costs, or increasing the price of postage — it would be $1-billion in the red by 2020.

 





Do the Tories really want to chop home mail delivery, cheap train travel and CBC programming two years before a federal election, when they know that a growing demographic — seniors — supports all of the above? Probably not. But the reality is that these industries are changing fast. When, as fellow National Post columnist Jesse Kline points out, commuters can take a five-hour flight from Toronto to Vancouver for under $300, versus an 87-hour train ride costing $650, trimming operations at VIA rail becomes attractive. As for Canada Post, the internet has decimated the carrier's letter-mail business, yet its government charter obliges it to still provide universal delivery. Meanwhile, its employees rack up 16 days' worth of absences a year — 60% more than the average Canadian manufacturing employees and 20% higher than the average unionized employee, according to a 2007 study by the C.D.

 

And then there is the CBC. The question is no longer even whether, in a zillion-channel universe, there is a need for a publicly-funded broadcaster. The question is whether traditional television itself is needed at all, as the internet and mobile technology transform the broadcast universe beyond recognition. Former CBC exec Kirstine Stewart made the point herself by decamping to Twitter Canada this week, telling the Toronto Star that "We are all trying to figure out what the next step is. It's not necessarily that television on the wall ... There are great ways to reinvent content and this a great opportunity to do so. This is the golden age of media."

 

The Tories' plans may well represent a first step toward a rethinking of the role of the state in the mailboxes, rail cars, and televisions of the nation. But this is not a hidden agenda, nor an immediate one. In light of fiscal challenges, and industry changes, it's what any sensible government should do.

[Obvious Li]

Amen brother...gut those fucking crown corporations like a rotten mackerel....... :mrgreen:

[Anonymous]

Shen Li has brainwashed Obvious Li and seoulbro.

 

[Anonymous]

Shen Li has brainwashed Obvious Li and seoulbro.