My name is Shannon Bittman. I'm a national vice-president with the institute representing 60,000 federal public service workers across Canada.
We're very pleased to be here participating in the House finance committee's pre-budget process. Our submission has identified a few of our key concerns, which I would like to touch on briefly today.
The first deals with economic recovery and growth. Our country is currently labouring through a slow and extremely weak recovery from a serious and damaging recession. Lessons learned from the recent European experiences, including those of Greece, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Ireland, have shown that severe spending cuts can be counterproductive and can result in even worse economic outcomes: higher unemployment, lower revenues, a slower economy, and even a much higher deficit.
In The Wall Street Journal last February, the world's two leading credit-rating firms, Moody's and Fitch, criticized Canada's deep budget cuts as unnecessary and counterproductive in the context of a fragile economic recovery.
In our submission, we recommend that the federal government put an end to its indiscriminate and wide-ranging program cuts and explore alternative sources of savings and revenue generation, such as eliminating further corporate tax reductions. We highlight wasteful outsourcing practices that should be targeted—for example, contracting out services, especially in the case of Shared Services Canada—and the need to reinvest these savings in key regulatory functions, such as the food inspection system.
On job creation, we note that jobs have been lost in previous rounds of budget cuts, through the strategic expenditure review process starting in 2007, and through the 2010 budget, which froze operating budgets of all departments and agencies, and now, more recently, as a result of the 2011 budget, the deficit reduction action plan is adversely affecting the Canadian job market and the Canadian economy as a whole.
It is estimated that approximately 19,200 jobs will be eliminated in the federal public service under the DRAP alone, which will have a ripple effect on the private sector, with up to another 40,000 job losses anticipated. In fact, these cuts will also impact on job creation by removing direct and valuable services, such as those at regional development agencies, which provide critical support for potential entrepreneurs and small business owners at a time when the economy needs innovation and new businesses to grow.
Given the economic circumstances, to protect the fragile economic recovery and job recovery in the private sector, we recommend that the federal government refrain from any further job cuts.
On productivity and public science, I would like to draw the committee's attention to the serious challenge that is now facing our country's future prosperity and the health of our citizens and their environment. I am referring to the current government's single-minded and narrow-minded attack on the science and evidence that are essential for effective and credible decision-making and the protection of the public good.
From the long-form census to the world-renowned experimental lakes area, from the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy to the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory, and from environmental emergencies response capacity to habitat management and the toxicology labs that contribute to our fisheries' health and sustainability, this government's decisions are scarring the scientific landscape of our country and putting at risk the health and prosperity of future generations of Canadians. By cutting a whole host of research-based programs, Canada is losing its capacity for sound, evidence-based policy decisions and eliminating services that provide real value to Canadians.
With regard to demographic change, Canadians need a comprehensive defined benefit pension plan so that all Canadians can retire with dignity. There's a direct correlation between countries with the most comprehensive public pension plans and poverty rates for seniors.
By ensuring that retirees can depend on a predefined pension, public pension plans, such as old age security and the guaranteed income supplement, can be redirected towards those who need it the most. Our solution is to ensure a secure income in retirement by requiring mandatory CPP increases. We recommend that this government promote and encourage employers to offer defined benefit pension plans and to implement mandatory increases to CPP.