I'd like to thank the finance committee for inviting me to appear before you today.
My name is Dawn Hardy, and I'm the Local 90006 president of the Union of Taxation Employees.
The Union of Taxation Employees, a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, represents more than 22,000 members of the Canada Revenue Agency. My local has approximately 700 members who live in P.E.I. and work at the Summerside Tax Centre.
Other organizations participating in this panel will outline the impact on the hotel and convention industry. I will focus directly on the job loss for my members and the Summerside economy.
In the context of the government's overall workforce and budget, the impact on the workforce of the decision to end the visitor rebate program is relatively insignificant. But in the context of Summerside, in the context of P.E.I., and for the members who I am privileged to represent, it's significant. Somewhere between 60 and 80 people employed by the CRA will lose their jobs when the program is cancelled, and additional jobs will be lost in the private sector in Summerside. The local economy will lose between $3 million and $4 million in wages currently paid to my members who administer the rebate program.
This is not the first cut that we have been subjected to within the CRA in Summerside. In the last two years we have absorbed almost 40 employees due to the losses within the tax centre due to the relocation of our human resources compensation section, which has moved to Winnipeg. Moreover, our finance and administration section was moved to Halifax. I'm sure that all the committee members understand that absorbing federal government job cuts in P.E.I. is far harder than in locations like the national capital region, where workers can more easily move from one government job to another.
My plea to the committee is to urge the government to reconsider the decision to eliminate the visitor rebate program. Failing that, I would urge you to locate new or expanded CRA services in Summerside so that the local economy and financial security of my members will be protected.
Thank you.