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9 out of 10 Jobs created in Canada in 2020-2021 were in the Public Sector

Part of the increase prior to 2020 was due to the Work Force Adjustment done by the CPC, that cut was crudely and poorly done, with departments being told who to cut by a secret task force. So we were forced to lay off some staff that we wanted to keep and got stuck with staff that we would have loved to given the boot to. Eventually they realized that they ended up cutting to much to quickly and had to refill those frontline positions again as the expected work savings from regulation changes did not happen. Part of the problem with cuts in government is that the useless sods who do nothing are very good at dodging the axe as they have the time to watch for it, but the average frontliner is way to busy to realize what is coming. In one year my office with 3 Officers, 3 assistants and a Manager did 1800 reviews and approvals for works on waterways, along with other tasks. I think a lot of people will be surprised at the workload for some frontliners.
 
Even a make-work job means something is being done. No job is a complete loss unless the employee does literally nothing. (I suppose if the employee would do detrimental things if not otherwise forced to sit somewhere for 8 hours, it could be argued that even that is not a complete loss.)

The question is whether the cost is worth whatever is produced, and the only way we have to measure that is free market pricing. Pretty much the only way for governments to get free market pricing is privatization and contracting.
 
Part of the increase prior to 2020 was due to the Work Force Adjustment done by the CPC, that cut was crudely and poorly done, with departments being told who to cut by a secret task force. So we were forced to lay off some staff that we wanted to keep and got stuck with staff that we would have loved to given the boot to. Eventually they realized that they ended up cutting to much to quickly and had to refill those frontline positions again as the expected work savings from regulation changes did not happen. Part of the problem with cuts in government is that the useless sods who do nothing are very good at dodging the axe as they have the time to watch for it, but the average frontliner is way to busy to realize what is coming. In one year my office with 3 Officers, 3 assistants and a Manager did 1800 reviews and approvals for works on waterways, along with other tasks. I think a lot of people will be surprised at the workload for some frontliners.
Yup, same. Years of a lack of funding has led to a lot of old obsolete kit and that takes a lot of extra work on top of the normal workload as well.

A lot of really experienced people retired as well, so just generally takes longer to do things because the average years of experience dropped from being measured in decades to years (or months in some sections).

The lack of people is causing a big buildup of things not being done too, and a lot of things I don't think we'll actually catch up to.
 
Even a make-work job means something is being done. No job is a complete loss unless the employee does literally nothing. (I suppose if the employee would do detrimental things if not otherwise forced to sit somewhere for 8 hours, it could be argued that even that is not a complete loss.)

The question is whether the cost is worth whatever is produced, and the only way we have to measure that is free market pricing. Pretty much the only way for governments to get free market pricing is privatization and contracting.
Some of the Marine companies asked to use the Classification Societies instead of TC Marine Safety Inspectors for most of the inspections. After a couple of years those companies found out that the TC Inspectors were faster, cheaper and more reliable. Doing something for profit, means that for every hand that touches that product or service needs to make a profit. Plus they are not always great at sustaining a specialised skill/knowledge when there is a slump in it's use, Nor are they good at investing in future endeavours which they might not see the profit of, but are still critical investments. Example would be tradesmen. The painful reality for all purists, is that "pure system" don't stand contact with human beings. So far the West has been successful at blending various ideas and occasionally changing the mix in regards to circumstance.
 
Were the companies paying all the costs for TC inspectors, or was part of the cost of sustaining that "infrastructure" borne by taxpayers?
 
Part of the increase prior to 2020 was due to the Work Force Adjustment done by the CPC, that cut was crudely and poorly done, with departments being told who to cut by a secret task force. So we were forced to lay off some staff that we wanted to keep and got stuck with staff that we would have loved to given the boot to. Eventually they realized that they ended up cutting to much to quickly and had to refill those frontline positions again as the expected work savings from regulation changes did not happen. Part of the problem with cuts in government is that the useless sods who do nothing are very good at dodging the axe as they have the time to watch for it, but the average frontliner is way to busy to realize what is coming. In one year my office with 3 Officers, 3 assistants and a Manager did 1800 reviews and approvals for works on waterways, along with other tasks. I think a lot of people will be surprised at the workload for some frontliners.
One thing as well I saw during the last DRAP was people that normally would have retired were waiting for golden handshakes they were told were not going to happen.
 
Even a make-work job means something is being done. No job is a complete loss unless the employee does literally nothing. (I suppose if the employee would do detrimental things if not otherwise forced to sit somewhere for 8 hours, it could be argued that even that is not a complete loss.)

The question is whether the cost is worth whatever is produced, and the only way we have to measure that is free market pricing. Pretty much the only way for governments to get free market pricing is privatization and contracting.
Some of the WFH outfits don’t seem to accomplish much, I kinda wonder sometimes if some people are working more than one job from home.
 
Some of the Marine companies asked to use the Classification Societies instead of TC Marine Safety Inspectors for most of the inspections. After a couple of years those companies found out that the TC Inspectors were faster, cheaper and more reliable. Doing something for profit, means that for every hand that touches that product or service needs to make a profit. Plus they are not always great at sustaining a specialised skill/knowledge when there is a slump in it's use, Nor are they good at investing in future endeavours which they might not see the profit of, but are still critical investments. Example would be tradesmen. The painful reality for all purists, is that "pure system" don't stand contact with human beings. So far the West has been successful at blending various ideas and occasionally changing the mix in regards to circumstance.
It's weird seeing some of the things that the class society surveyors sign off; when you ask them why they don't really seem to understand much other than what the rules are and have no real expertise behind that. If the rules don't specifically disallow something in the grey zone, they'll let it go, even if it can demonstrably be shown to be a terrible idea. Pretty frustrating to have to argue with someone around something I'm a SME in why it's a safety issue, and get told the rules say it's fine (or don't say it's stupid).
 
Some of the WFH outfits don’t seem to accomplish much, I kinda wonder sometimes if some people are working more than one job from home.

Oh yes... and it's a problem. It's one of the reasons why no one wants to go back to the office full time, or at all:

 
Virtual meetings were a huge productivity booster for me because my actual required attention/contribution time per hour might have been 5 minutes, and I could work on other stuff without disrupting the meeting. Can't really hammer away at the keyboard and occasionally swear quietly during an in-person gathering.
 
Virtual meetings were a huge productivity booster for me because my actual required attention/contribution time per hour might have been 5 minutes, and I could work on other stuff without disrupting the meeting. Can't really hammer away at the keyboard and occasionally swear quietly during an in-person gathering.
Sure you can- it is just career limiting…
 
A few more variables driving 'Us verus them' perceptions....

Comment: Canada has an unfair public/private compensation gap​


A commentary by a retired Canadian business leader who lives in Victoria.

Most Canadians believe the pandemic’s impact is in the rear-view mirror. But it isn’t yet for a great many small businesses forced to shutter their premises due to “safety concerns,” even as their regular customers packed into COVID-spreading lines to enter big-box stores deemed “essential services.”

Behind those small businesses are people who have invested personal savings and long hours to achieve their dreams. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business reports that small-business insolvencies were up 34 per cent in the first quarter of this year, the biggest increase in more than 30 years. Many others are just barely hanging on.

CFIB president Dan Kelly fears the wave of defaults will rise as higher interest rates on debt taken on to survive the pandemic become “the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

Meanwhile, during COVID, public-sector workers kept their jobs, added two years’ credit to their gilded pension benefits and even, many of them, received wage increases.

Statistics Canada’s January 2022 Labour Force Survey found that all of the country’s 206,000 job losers were private-sector employees. Public-sector employment was 305,000 higher than at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

Not only did public-sector workers have job security during the pandemic, but they also enjoyed vastly better pension and other benefits.

A Fraser Institute report published at the beginning of the pandemic found that average federal, provincial and local government workers’ wages were more than nine per cent higher than those of their counterparts in the private sector.

Moreover, 88 per cent of government workers were covered by a pension plan, compared with fewer than 23 per cent of private-sector workers.

But now it seems the enormous compensation and job-security advantages enjoyed by public sector employees aren’t enough. The 120,000-member Public Service Alliance of Canada, largest of 17 federal unions, is talking strike, seeking a 13.5 per cent increase over three years.

PSAC president Chris Aylward says: “The government can’t expect workers who have been getting us through the pandemic to shoulder the costs of Canada’s recovery.”

Shoulder the costs of Canada’s recovery? How do you suppose that sounds to all those much lower-paid private-sector workers, many of whom either lost their jobs or were forced to work part-time?

The union members who’ve actually been “getting us through the pandemic” aren’t Aylward’s, but hospital, care-home and public-health workers, many of whom are represented by other unions. Their valiant efforts took both a physical and mental toll and they deserve both financial consideration and our gratitude.

The B.C. General Employees’ Union, largest in the province, went on strike demanding a raise of five per cent wage in each of the next three years or inflation adjustments, whichever is higher. The union broke off talks after receiving what BCGEU president Stephanie Smith disparagingly described as an “insulting” offer.

One of the first job actions taken by the BCGEU was aimed at distribution centres for government-run liquor stores, forcing the government to impose rationing that severely limited supplies to restaurants and bars during the peak summer season

A spokesman for the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association said the restriction “could not have come at a worse time for our industry that hasn’t recovered from the impact of the pandemic.”

More strikes are sure to come as 400,000 of the province’s workers have contracts that expire this year. Work stoppages will inflict mortal damage on many financially fragile small businesses, adding to the already record number of insolvencies.

And that’s just British Columbia. Ontario government data shows 3,197 union contracts expire between now and year’s end, two-thirds of which are for provincial employees.

Government contracts are also expiring in the other eight provinces. Strike-driven contract settlements seem bound to further increase the already huge gap between public and private compensation.

Meanwhile, private-sector workers and their families are left struggling to pay for the rapidly rising cost of food, shelter and just about everything else.

The great irony is that it’s those not-as-well-compensated private-sector workers who generate most of the revenues governments use to pay the much higher wages and gilded benefits of public-sector union members.

This financial disparity is harmful enough to the fabric of our society. What may well be even more damaging is contemptuous union strike behaviour that rubs sand into the financial and emotional wounds felt by other Canadians.

Disparities between public and private compensation and job security are not new in Canada. But the much more difficult financial and emotional toll experienced by private-sector workers over the past two years, combined with the current greed of government unions, has elevated those disparities in dangerous, divisive ways.

Two classes of Canadians have been created: Those without job-security or income worries, and those whose ability to support themselves and their families depends on creating value for the enterprises that employ them.

The worst is yet to come. Bargaining for thousands of expiring government union contracts will hit many more businesses and widen the dangerous gap between those two classes of Canadians.

This is a time when our country needs strong, decisive federal and provincial leaders who will stand up against union demands, including with legislation.

I can’t say I’m optimistic we’ll see that kind of leadership.

 
Were the companies paying all the costs for TC inspectors, or was part of the cost of sustaining that "infrastructure" borne by taxpayers?
Service Fees are regulated under the Service Fee Act and as I recall it is the cost of the inspection and processing the paperwork. They may allow for a factor to cover overhead, but it's been quite a while since I read the Act. Safe navigation and shipping are a Federal responsibility and deemed as critical to the economic health of the country, so regardless of the Act it would still be subsidized so as to keep Canadian Ports competitive on the Global market.
 
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