Open Letter to Paul Martin

December 3, 2003  

The Honourable Paul Martin
Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Mr. Martin:

              I should like, first of all, to congratulate you on your election as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.  

              Upon becoming Prime Minister in a little less than two weeks, you will assume a great many responsibilities, and if media speculation is to be believed, will move quickly to redefine the structure of government. That of course is your prerogative, but I would urge you to take a step back, and consider the impact that yet another departmental and agency restructuring will have on the government's workforce, a great many of whom are members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.  

              Over the last week of media speculation indicating that you are poised to: consolidate a number of government services that make up a large part of the government's security apparatus into one structure; dismantle Human Resources Development Canada and Canadian Heritage, and integrate trade and commerce into a single department, many members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada have phoned, written, e-mailed and faxed my office to express their frustration with the prospect of yet another restructuring exercise.  

              As you know only too well from your many years in Parliament and Cabinet, and from conversations with many government workers who are members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, morale is exceedingly low within federal government departments and agencies, and changes to the structure of government without consultation with your workforce and the Unions who represent federal workers will not improve the situation.  

              Ensuring that your workforce is consulted on any restructuring of government departments and agencies, and that the consultation process is meaningful, is an essential and necessary first step if the restructuring is to be undertaken in the public interest.   It is also essential if restructuring is to be implemented in an effective and efficient manner that ensures that the new delivery mechanisms are directly accountable to Canadians.

              You know, as well, that the decade of the 1990s was a period of profound and pronounced change in the federal public sector. The decade was marked by a six-year wage freeze, a reduction in the tens of thousands in the number of people employed in the federal public sector, the creation of agencies to deliver food inspection services, customs and income tax services and the operation and administration of Canada's national parks. In addition, airports and air-navigation services were devolved, and a wide range of other government services were either eliminated or hived off into smaller operating agencies.

              From the perspective of the people who work for the government in the public interest, it was the worst decade in memory. Working lives were disrupted, people were let go after many years and, in some cases, decades of dedicated service to the people of Canada. Those who remained found, in many cases, that all that had changed was the number of people doing the job. As a result, they faced a stressful environment with an unmanageable workload, many became sick while others simply gave up and left the government's employ altogether.  

              In the light of your announcement before the Montreal Board of Trade that program review, as outlined in the 2003 federal budget, will become an ongoing and continuous part of the government's planning cycle, I, and many of the PSAC members who have communicated with me over the past few weeks, fear that your government is on the verge of repeating the mistakes of the 1990s. Our members take this position, because “program review” as announced in the 2003 budget was constructed as a specific financial target—$1 billion per year—regardless of its consequential impact on the delivery of service. In fact, and on the basis of its implementation in the mid 1990s and again this year, “program review” is a misnomer. What has happened in the past is that the Minister of Finance and/or the President of the Treasury Board announce expenditure restraint of a specific dollar amount and departments and agencies are told to reduce expenditures by their share of the cut. In short, little, if any, attention is paid to the “review” part of the process. This has given rise to speculation within our membership that program review will, once again, disrupt service to the public and the lives of thousands of federal workers.

              To the extent that you remain committed to program review, the process needs to change so that it is undertaken in an open and accountable way. These are both principles that you have repeatedly said will be a hallmark of your government, and I applaud you for making that commitment. From our perspective, the exercise must include consultation with front-line workers, and an assurance that their input will be considered. It also requires a debate within society as a whole over the role of government, and how government can help meet the needs and aspirations of the population.   To be clear, restructuring of government and “program review” should not be, as it has in the past, the prerogative of a few people operating behind closed doors.

              In closing, I would urge you to appoint senior representatives of your Transition Team and government to establish, in consultation with federal public sector unions a process that secures input from front-line federal workers and their unions into program review and any departmental and agency restructuring that you are considering. This will help ensure that your government meets the needs and aspirations of Canadians.

Sincerely,

Nycole Turmel
National President