Think Public - PSAC Atlantic

Issues

August 1, 2007

PSAC members are calling on their MPs this summer, talking about how our taxes pay for quality public services, the misguided sale of government buildings, the Harper government’s attacks on women’s equality and more.

Aboriginal Peoples
Strong, vibrant, healthy and prosperous Aboriginal communities make for a better Canada.  What we need is the political will to make it happen.

Protecting farmers and the integrity of Canada’s grain industry
The current federal government has been aggressive in its attempts to dismantle the two regulatory bodies that protect Canada’s farming communities and small grain producers, the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) and the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB).

Preserving Canada’s natural and cultural heritage
A report from the Fraser Institute – Can Markets Save Canada’s National Parks- 2005 – suggests contracting out as a plan to maintain Canadian parks.

Child care
Canada is one of the world’s wealthiest nations, yet is at the bottom of developed nations when it comes to spending on early learning and child care.

Environmental protection
Workers were among the first environmentalists with workplace pollution being a major concern of the labour movement for over a century.

Tools for Equality and Human Rights
Women’s equality is not yet a reality.  We still have a long way to go in advancing the rights of Aboriginal Peoples, racially visible persons, persons with disabilities, older women and men, and other equity-seeking groups.  Poverty is still a reality in Canada.

Fish stock depletion
Canada’s fisheries and oceans sector is a significant part of Canadian life, culture and heritage.  Hundreds of Canadian communities depend on it for their survival.

Selling Government Infrastructure and buying it back
In February 2007 the Conservative government announced that it intended to sell valuable real estate owned by the people of Canada and then lease it back. Here’s why this plan is a bad deal for Canadians.

Pay equity
On average, women still earn less than men, regardless of their occupation.  For Aboriginal and racially visible women, the wage gap is even wider.

Elimination of Pay Zones
Some employees of Treasury Board, Parks Canada, CFIA, and the CRA are paid dramatically less than those who do the same job elsewhere in the country.

Poverty as a barrier to equality
Everywhere social disparity is growing and social exclusion is deepening. 

Protecting the wardens who protect our national parks and the people who visit them
Park wardens, until very recently, were expected to carry out law enforcement without the necessary protective equipment for their job.

Public-Private Partnerships (P3s)
Public-private partnerships (P3s) are a form of privatization.  Giving up control to private interests has frequently meant user fees being increased and public policy objectives being ignored.

Security and Human and Civil Rights
The “war on“terror” and the subsequent attention focused on “national security” have led to governments, including Canada’s, to impose draconian laws that limit civil liberties and human rights.

Tax cuts and quality public services
We may all be equal but everyone living in Canada doesn’t have equal opportunities.  Our tax system is the way we pool our money to collectively provide services to individuals and to our communities. 

Tax fairness in the North
On average Northern households spend $15,000 more per year on living essentials than other Canadians.

Temporary help services (THS)
In 2005-2006, the federal government spent close to $220 million on THS.  Based on the amount spent for the first half of this fiscal year, it is expected the government will spend approximately the same amount in 2006-2007 – almost double the amount it spent on THS five years ago.

Transportation safety
The federal government is abandoning its obligations to apply and enforce transportation safety regulations and protection as they apply to many areas of air and rail safety.

Resources for achieving women’s equality
The federal government has a role to play in achieving women’s equality.  And the federal government should be held accountable for its efforts to achieve women’s equality – or not.

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