Mr. Speaker, since the current government came into office, a disturbing trend has emerged in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean: jobs in the federal public service have become increasingly threatened.
I would like to give a few examples: the closure of the post offices in Port-Alfred and Jonquière, the attempt to close the Chicoutimi-Nord post office, the relocation of the Service Canada and Passport Canada offices in Jonquière, the closure of the Canada Revenue Agency counter in Chicoutimi, the contracting out of the Jonquière tax centre archives to private companies outside the region, the outsourcing of file processing for Canada Summer Jobs; the massive restructuring of jobs at National Defence, and the threat to reduce funding for the Aluminum Technology Centre.
What these examples have in common is that federal public service jobs in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean are being threatened.
To make the government aware of this problem, I wrote a letter to the Prime Minister and seven other ministers, calling on them to stop making cuts to the local services that people rely on.
I urge my colleagues to follow suit and seek firm commitments from the federal government on public service jobs.