In the last fiscal year, 91,613 lucky bureaucrats who either stayed in their jobs, retired, or quit on their own were given a share of $1.2 billion in voluntary severance. This act alone is new and unheard of for those of us paying the bill.
Business groups and spending watchdogs have pounced, calling the payouts “staggering” and “outrageous” but only one word best qualifies what has happened: “theft.”
This comes in addition to the $1.5 billion we must pay for regular severance for over 102,589 bureaucrats according to new stats obtained by Postmedia News.
To sum: We paid $2.7 billion on bureaucrats in the last fiscal year plus another amount for all the senators plus another amount for all the MPs plus another amount for all of the spending sprees these people have endured. The total: theft and a blatant fraud to the Canadian taxpayer.
Federal severance payments by the numbers:
— In the 2011-12 fiscal year, 102,589 federal public servants were issued either a voluntary severance or a regular severance payment, at a cost of more than $1.5-billion.
— 91,613 employees opted to receive the voluntary severance liquidation payment at a cost of roughly $1.2-billion.
— Approximately 92% of employees receiving voluntarily requested severance took the full amount rather than accepting a partial payment now and the rest when leaving the public service.
Source: Public Works and Government Services Canada
The gravy train hasn’t stopped yet, for this fiscal year, it is projected that another such bonus, to the tune of $850 million will be handed out on top of the existing severance package.
“It’s outrageous. If taxpayers knew what is contained in federal union contracts, we’d have a rebellion on our hands.
The contracts that the public is saddled with are too rich. It’s an unbelievable deal that most federal government employees have.”
Gregory Thomas, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
On top of this $2 billion bill comes another $900 million price tag to cover “workforce adjustment” payments for bureaucrats who will be laid off as a result of austerity.
Meanwhile, Treasury Board Minister Tony Clement’s press secretary said that the government was moving toward scrapping accumulated severance and was negotiating with the unions to try to get a deal.
“Our government is always looking to find savings for taxpayers and improve value for their tax dollars and one important way to do this is ending the costly practice of paying accumulated severance for public servants quitting or retiring from the bureaucracy,” Sean Osmar, press secretary to the minister, said in an email.
“We know this has been the common practice under old agreements, but it is expensive and is unfair to taxpayers and it is why we have already completed agreements with several unions covering about 100,000 public servants ending it. We expect to finalize future agreements as collective bargaining processes continue.”
On top of that, while Canadians are seeing their pensions fade away and while young Canadians are faced with the prospect of working longer and harder than the last generation, these bureaucrats get the “gold-plated” pension that should be cut down to size.
“It is a staggering amount of money paid out to people who are not losing their jobs,” said Dan Kelly, senior vice-president with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which represents over 109,000 small-business owners across Canada.
“People don’t actually believe this exists. I don’t think the average taxpayer has a sweet clue just how much they are paying for the perks for government workers.”
Dan Kelly, senior vice-president Canadian Federation of Independent Business
The kings and peasants is the name of the game and this is what the Conservatives love to promote. While you watch your EI get taken away and your pensions slashed, remember that MPs will always get away with illegitimate spending sprees and will always be paid those great salaries and pensions. Now remember that the new senators they added costs money and is subject to the same abuse of our money, and now we have this outrageous theft of our money by bureaucrats.
Be it resolved that the next government cut and/or eliminate government perks and finally end the culture of entitlement in Ottawa and finally give a damn about the taxpayers who are forced to foot the bill.
Can you believe how much money is stolen from us in times of “economic constraint?” Let us know: Facebook, Twitter,Google+.
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