Dealing with the cuts
Anita Moore

It is this Liberal government that is currently responsible for the seemingly drastic cuts made to the public sector in British Columbia.

In order to understand the motivation behind the cuts it is necessary to comprehend the ideology of this newly elected Liberal government. Daniel Cohn, a political science professor at Simon Fraser University, explains that Gordon Campbell's Liberal government has adopted an ideology known as "neoliberalism".

Cohn explains that "neoliberalism" is built on the principle that the government should not intervene in the daily life of society unless private actors are incapable of dealing with an issue according to economic theory. Cohn stresses that these private actors are only required to deal with an issue, whether that issue is dealt with well, equitably, or effectively is irrelevant. Furthermore, neoliberals believe that past governments have broken this rule and consequently there are too many restraints on private activity, especially corporate actors. Thus, a neoliberal government takes on the responsibility of ruthlessly combing through the activities of state in an attempt to bring government back to its proper size and free up private activity.

So what does this mean for ordinary British Columbians? According to Cohn, British Columbians can expect that a lot of the things that were previously done for them by the government will no longer be considered part of the government's responsibility. He points out that in some cases the private sector will step in and do a better job fulfilling these services than the government. Yet, in other instances the private sector might do a worse job, while in a few cases these services will not be offered by either sector.

Cohn goes on to explain that "in a neoliberal world, there is less restraint on economic power and less concern with the consequences of this for society and individuals. Therefore, it is going to become a lot harder for ordinary British Columbians to get their concerns met if they conflict with those of powerful economic actors such as multinational corporations and wealthy elites. In many cases their interests coincide, such as keeping taxes low. In others they conflict, such as keeping health care affordable for ordinary people and treatment assigned on the 'most in need' principle, not the 'who can pay' principle."

With these motivations in mind, the actions of the Liberal government, since it came to power on June 5 of 2001, seem inevitable. First, Campbell clearly outlined a "90 day agenda" which included 22 specific items that Campbell and his government intended to address. This agenda made public, prior to the election, the Liberal's intention to:

*scrap photo radar in B.C.

*conduct a comprehensive audit of B.C.'s finances

*introduce a dramatic cut in personal taxes

(restore education as an essential service under the Labour Code appoint an independent public inquiry into the fast ferry-fiasco.

The Liberal government has clearly fulfilled these promises, as well as the remaining 17, as outlined in their 90-day plan.

Although some of the actions made by Campbell in regards to this 90-day agenda (including the termination of photo radar and the restoration of education as an essential service) have been controversial, the cuts to the civil service announced on January 17 have become the central focus of subsequent government criticism.

The controversy surrounding these cuts does not only reflect the severity of the cuts themselves, but a deeper mistrust of the Campbell government.

During the election campaign, the premier declared that the goal of the Liberal party was "not to go in and slash the public service" (March 2001). Minister of education and deputy premier Christy Clark backed up this statement when she said, "what you'll see is probably the same number of employees just doing a heck of a lot more productive things. We value the civil service and we're going to depend on civil servants to deliver on the promises and commitments we've made to British Columbians" in the May 13 issue 2001, of the Times Colonist. Jeff Bray, MLA for Victoria-Beacon Hill, further supported the promises made by Campbell and Clark. He stated that "there's not going to be massive job cuts. We need to manage the civil service better, its not the issue of size" in the April 26 issue 2001, of the Times Colonist.

Clearly the Liberals have done exactly what they said they would not do.

The cuts made by the Liberals touch almost every branch of the civil service and consequently affect a broad range of British Columbians.

George Heyman, president of the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) has declared that the cuts imposed by Campbell's government are a "continuation of an agenda deliberately designed to divide British Columbians into the 'haves' and 'have-nots'." Furthermore, Heyman asserts that "these cuts in services will affect every B.C. family, whether you live in Victoria or Fort St. John. Premier Campbell has clearly not learned a thing from the Walkerton water tragedy in Ontario because cutting nearly 1,000 jobs in the two environmental ministries will jeopardise the government's ability to protect the water we drink and the air we breathe."

Jenny Kwan, MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant and one of two B.C. NDP MLAs elected to the legislature following last summer's election, says the provincial cuts are both harmful and unnecessary.

"The community is [going to be] really, really hurt by this, I couldn't believe the viciousness of these cuts," Kwan said. "The government is going after seniors for their bus passes when they are on pensions and removing funding for women's centres."

Among many of the areas affected by cuts, Kwan is particularly concerned about the effect on youth of limitations to income assistance programs. "I live in and represent the poorest riding in Canada and the children and families of this riding are really going to have a tough time in the coming years."

"This is the 'New Era' for Gordon Campbell in terms of access and opportunity and choice for children," said Kwan. "If you are on the low income end, you have little support from government. If you are in the wealthy end you have more opportunities under this program."

Kwan also feels these cuts are unnecessary. She suggests that they were a result of the tax cutting policies initiated by the Liberal government last summer.

"They were created as a result of Gordon Campbell's failed economic policy" said Kwan. "Incidentally, the dollar value of the service cuts, equates to the tax cuts of $2.1 billion."

Seth Klein, B.C. director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, shares Kwan's view that these cuts to the public sector are unnecessary. Klein suggests that the Liberal's effort to deal with a structural deficit of $3.8 billion by slashing government spending, programs and jobs to balance the budget "creates a phoney crisis [that forces British Columbians] with no choice but to deal with it."

According to Klein, "a structural deficit exists when government expenditures and revenues are such that, no matter where we are in the business cycle, the budget cannot be balanced." Klein suggests that B.C. is in fact facing a cyclical deficit (in addition to the deficit resulting from last summer's tax cuts), due to the fact that B.C. is in a severe economic slowdown.

"As we emerge from the downturn, revenues will pick up and the cyclical deficit will disappear" said Klein. "In other words, the only underlying deficit is a direct result of the Liberal tax cuts."

Klein and other CCPA analysts also contend that B.C. could in fact afford its public programs when a relative comparison is made to other public service sectors in Canada and when considering the relative private wealth that exists in our province.

"The notion that we cannot afford our public programs-that B.C. has been living beyond its means and has 'the most expensive social programs in Canada'(as the government keeps repeating)-is simply untrue" said Klein. "B.C.'s public sector is already the second smallest in Canada (measured as the number of public sector employees per capita), while B.C.'s government spending relative to GDP (the size of its economy) is already the third lowest in Canada."

According to another public policy analyst with CCPA, Steve Kerstetter, B.C. is a rich province. "B.C. is home to both the highest average wealth in Canada and largest gap between the richest and poorest households" said Kerstetter. "The data debunks the myth that B.C. has been a tough place to be rich, particularly over the past ten years."

Statistics Canada data from 1999 indicates that ten per cent of family units held 54.6 per cent of the province's personal wealth at last count (compared to 53 per cent nationally), while the top 50 per cent controlled almost 95.7 per cent of the personal wealth (compared to 94.4 per cent nationally). The wealthiest ten per cent also average $1,378,534 in personal wealth, while the average for the top ten per cent in the country is $1,059,423. This leaves only 4.3 percent of the wealth for the bottom 50 per cent of British Columbian family units.

Seth Klein feels that in the end it is a question of political ideology. "B.C. is home to the highest average personal wealth in Canada so we can afford to take better care of one another than we do" said Klein. "It comes down to a question of political choices-nothing is forcing the government to salvage our public programs."

Nonetheless, the Liberal government defends their actions and maintains that the cuts to public service are necessary to achieve a balanced budget in B.C. and overcome the debt incurred by the NDP. Karn Manhas, Liberal MLA for Port Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, explains the reasoning behind the government's three year restructuring program.

He points out that the restructuring program was designed to eliminate unnecessary administration costs within the various ministries. Instead of having a separate payroll department and a separate human resources department for each ministry, these departments will be consolidated into four offices which each serve several ministries. Although Manhas understands how difficult the cuts were on some of the individuals who lost their jobs, he notes that "the people who lost their jobs are highly employable" and "highly skilled" workers.

On the other hand, Anne Chambers, Component 4 Secretary Treasurer for the BCGEU, speaks of the anger felt by those personally affected by these cuts. "Our members are starting to get very, very angry about what is happening in the community and its not just because they lost their jobs, its because these cuts are actually going to hurt people," said Chambers.

Furthermore, Manhas puts the loss of 1500 public sector jobs into perspective by pointing out that since the provincial election 22,000 jobs have been lost in the forestry industry on Vancouver Island alone.

Yet, the total loss to the public sector is estimated to be about 11,700 jobs over the course of the next three years.

Manhas spoke very frankly about the strain these decisions have had on the government itself. "If the public could only see how difficult this period is for us. Many governments think its okay to borrow money to pay for the delivery of services they want for this year." Yet, as Manhas suggests, it is because of this mentality that "B.C. is on the brink of being called the have-not province."

The question remains, however, as to whether or not these cuts will help boost the economy in B.C. Cohn notes that both the tax cuts and the cuts to the public sector cannot be expected to produce results. "The reason B.C. was weak in the 1990s was because of the dominance of commerce with Asia in our economy. Don't expect a powerful economy until Asia recovers and we replace those markets with others." This problem, he mentions, is being compounded by the dispute with the U.S. over lumber.

On January 29, Campbell announced a three year long wage rollback and freeze of five per cent for all government MLAs. The current MLA salary is $72,100. Effective April 1, the MLAs' base wage will be frozen at $68,500 until March 31, 2005.

Manhas explained that this wage rollback came about "because of an emotional caucus meeting. We thought that it was important to show leadership and we felt that we should feel some pain as well."

Many British Columbians have had a hard time justifying the cuts made to personal taxes by Campbell last summer, given the severity of the recent cuts to the public sector.

Manhas explains that the cuts to personal taxes were necessary to ensure that the province was competitive. Currently, the bottom two tax brackets in B.C. are the lowest in the country. The upper tax brackets may not share this status, but a reduction in these tax brackets was also necessary to make "the whole system competitive" and attract business to B.C., which in turn strengthens the economy.

Manhas does not pretend that the present situation in B.C. is an ideal one, but he does maintain that the actions of the Liberal government are necessary if B.C. is "going to turn things around." Manhas clearly states that "B.C. has a lot to offer...there is a bright future on the other side."

Ultimately, Manhas stresses that the goal of the Liberal government in B.C. is to figure out what government should be doing. However, he admits that although the Liberals have began differentiating between essential and unessential services, at present the Liberal government does not even have enough money to provide those services that it should be providing.

A few of the public service cuts as outlined by the B.C. Liberals

ADVANCED EDUCATION
*Student Summer Works and Youth Community Action will be eliminated.
*The Commonwealth of learning, Kootenay School of Arts, the British Columbia Centre for International Education will no longer receive funding from the Ministry.

ATTORNEY GENERAL
*Reduce number of staffed court houses from 68 to 44
*Eliminate Crown Victim Witness Services Program
*Family Advocate Program will be discontinued.

COMMUNITY, ABORIGINAL, AND WOMEN
*Discontinue Audiobook program
*Discontinue Centre for Workplace Excellence, Community Partners, Multicultural Language Program, Music Industry Travel Assistance Program, Grant to B.C. Festival of the Arts.
*Discontinue Funding for Women's Centres, Athlete Assistance Program, Funding for National Coaching Institute.

HEALTH SERVICE
*Some drugs will be delisted
*B.C. Hearing Aid Program terminated

PUBLIC SAFETY AND SOLICITOR GENERAL
*Close 8 Open- and Medium-Correctional Centres.
*Close 5 Community Probation Centres
*Close Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women.
*Discontinue community contracted drug testing and alcohol programs.

WATER, LAND AND AIR PROTECTION
*Discontinue response to low-risk environmental spills.
*Discontinue response to low-risk human-wildlife conflicts.
*Discontinue freshwater fishing industry development, partnerships and advice.

For more info on listed public service cuts look up www.gov.bc.ca

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