The results of the recent federal election are a likely indication of what Manitobans want to see from our next government: transparency; stimulus spending on ailing infrastructure, financed by deficits; a transition to a green economy; and respect and support for Canada’s public service workers.
Public services and privatization
UNSPUN is the 2016 provincial election commentary series from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba
By 2013 the Conservative government had cut overall federal taxes and other revenues to the lowest rate seen in more than 70 years. Between 2011 and March 2015, 25,000 to 30,000 federal public sector positions were eliminated. Between 2010 and 2015, 4,766 civil service jobs were lost in the prairie region (1,875 in Manitoba; 799 in Saskatchewan; 2,092 in Alberta).
If not reversed by the new government, significant spending cuts brought in by the federal Conservatives will compromise services and programs in the prairie region. These cuts have placed federal employees under tremendous stress while frustrating the public with undue delays in service delivery. If these cuts are not reversed and successful programs reinstated, future generations will have to deal with the consequences of loss of valuable services, deterioration of the environment and yet one more example of the tragedy of the commons.
In 2014, the Saskatchewan government privatized four rural SLGA liquor stores in Langenburg, Ituna, Kerrobert and Ponteix. In light of the government’s plan to privatize another 40 SLGA stores throughout the province, it is critical to evaluate the economic impact of privatization on the four rural towns that have already experienced it.
While the government continues to claim that its liquor privatization plan will not reduce revenues, a new report from the Saskatchewan Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives thoroughly refutes those claims. Down the Drain: The Saskatchewan Government’s Costly Proposal for Liquor Retailing by David Campanella demonstrates why the government’s privatization plan will actually cost the province $115 million over the next five years should it be implemented.
This research project used a case study approach to examine access to mainstream Financial Institution (FI)1 services in one rural First Nation community and among Indigenous People in inner city Winnipeg. By case study we mean that through field research methods we examined the problem of financial exclusion, and gained research insights for Indigenous Peoples located in two unique and particular geographic locations: a rural First Nation and among Indigenous Peoples in Inner-city Winnipeg.
This report details the state of Canada's public services department by department. It examines the Liberal’s election promises that pertain to public services, how the capacity of the public sector will need to be increased to meet them, and some of the ways these goals can be improved. Revitalizing Canada’s public service will require serious decisions about how to generate more public revenue, importantly to pay for the staff needed to supply revitalized services.
The Catholic Church ran more than half of Canada’s residential schools. In these schools they immersed Indigenous children and youth in Catholic culture.
First published in the Winnipeg Free Press Dec. 12, 2015