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FRIDAY, JANUARY 18,2002
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Gov’t jobs axed
More than 150 positions cut from regional offices
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Prince George and its surrounding communities did not escape the axe as the B.C. government unveiled the first wave of job cuts on so-called “Black Thursday.”
More than 150 government employees in Prince George and surrounding communities like McBride learned they would be out of a job by 2003 or sooner. The provincial government expects to cut 11,500 jobs by 2005 to save $1.9 billion in spending to balance the budget in the next three years. So far, cuts in this region — which also includes Vanderhoof, Fort St. James and Mackenzie — are expected to hit 275 by 2005, according to a government release.
However, the tally could go higher as not all forest service or highway ministry cuts have been tabulated.
The Land Titles office on Fourth Avenue was one of the first to learn they were being cut. The office will be closed permanently by July, a loss of 11 jobs.
Many government workers were not interested in talking about the major cuts.
But one worker, who didn't want to be identified, said “Everyone was shocked. I was sick to my stomach when I heard the news.”
While a few people may be eligible for early retirement, others are not holding out hope of filling another government job with so many cuts, said the worker.
B.C. Government Employees Union (BCGEU) official Lorna Waghorn-Kidd was not surprised. “I’m sure they’re in shock,” she said. “It’s a sad day. 1 don’t see any happy faces walking by on the street.”
She said the cuts will also hurt the local economy because the community stands to lose people who can’t find replacement work here.
“These people are not going to be buying a new car,” said Waghorn-Kidd.
Prince George North MLA Pat Bell defended the cuts, reiterating his earlier position that they weren’t
as deep as in Victoria or Vancouver. The BCGEU had said 600 jobs were on the chopping block in the region, while Bell had said it was less.
“I think we’ve done this in a very careful and cognizant manner,” said Bell.
“(The civil service) simply wasn’t sustainable. We had to roll it back. And we have to be competitive with our tax structure, or we will not have the private economic growth we need in order to create a growing and prosperous economy.”
Bell insists government job losses in the first year in Prince George will be 142, and 225 by the end of year three. He couldn’t provide details on where the cuts were taking place.
For example, Bell didn’t know how many jobs would be lost in transportation and highways or the forests ministry, although he said many of those people would be able to find work in the private sector.
He also said the old jail would be re-opened, which would add jobs.
Housecleaning long overdue/ chamber says
by SCOTT STANFIELD Citizen staff
Perhaps it wasn’t Black Thursday in B.C. after all, says Ed Graydon, president of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce.
Graydon, upon speaking with various government officials, said Thursday’s cutback announcements are both timely and overdue, as is a review of some of the ministerial departments.
“It’s long overdue,” Graydon said after the provincial government announced its plan of shedding more than 11,500 civil service jobs over the next three years.
“I think there’s some good that’s going to come out of it. You’re going to see what the Socreds used to call the ‘Invisible Army.’
You’re going to see a lot of people contracting to the ministry.”
If Thursday’s an-nouncement means looking at more efficient ways to privatize things, be it getting out of the liquor store business or getting out of Hydro to pri-vatizing some of the Crown assets,
Graydon said “it’s got to be done.”
In some ways, he added, the statistics for job creation are going to increase because a number of these people are going to end up contracting back, rather than being cut out of the system. He also said contracts which go out to tender on a year-by-year basis may result in a more efficient system.
More local reaction -Page 3 Editor’s commentary -Page 4 Provincial situation -Pages 6,7
“1 think
there’s
some
good
that’s
going to
come out
of it.”
---Ed Graydon
“If it forces ministries and departments to look at the contracts annually or every couple of years, then there may be a cleansing effect where we’re going to see much more efficient departments,” said Graydon, comparing the cuts to small business, which he said has been going through this the last 10 years. “I think the ministry has grown to a point where it’s a bit of an octopus. I think this is one way of correcting itself... the money just isn’t there.” Graydon also said the government initiative has caused a certain “fear-mongering” among people.
“Eleven thousand jobs are a lot of jobs — there’s probably a lot of people waking up today thinking ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?”’ he said. “I can sympathize with them. In the end 1 may not be saying there will be as many people working at the end of the day as there is now, but maybe we’ll be running it more efficiently. Maybe we’re moving in a positive direction here.”
Black Thursday survivor awaits his long-term fate
FACTBOX
Prince George region government job cuts:
■ Land Titles Office in Prince George to close by July.
■ Hutda Lake Correctional Centre to close this year.
■ Vanderhoof Court House to close.
■ Agricultural office also to close.
■ Robson Valley Forest District Office to close by March 2003.
■ More jobs cuts to be made on Jan. 28 in region.
■ Significant cuts to Transportation and Highways department: specific figures not available.
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
James Smith considers himselfifortu-nate to have survived Black Thursday, so far.
The Prince George forest technician wasn’t among more than 200 B.C. forest ministry workers in northern B.C. that learned their offices will be closed by March 2003.
However, there are more cuts to come in forestry and Smith will learn by Jan. 28 if he still has a job.
He’s bracing for the worst as his seven years with the ministry puts him low on the seniority totem pole. “I’m scared to say the least,” said Smith, who recently bought a house in Prince George.
“Most of us just want to get it over with. Let us know.”
He, and other forest service workers in Prince George, learned the news in meetings in the morning.
Smith, a union rep, was told the for-
est services is going to be cut by 35% over the next three years, a loss of 1,400 jobs throughout the province. “It’s just dismal,” he said of the mood of unionized workers.
Office closures include the Prince Rupert regional office and district offices in McBride, Fort St. John, Hazel-ton and Houston.
The cuts in northern B.C. are part of a provincewide restructuring of the Ministry of Forests. Regional offices in Nelson and Williams Lake are also to be closed by next year, which will leave three regional offices in Prince George, Kamloops and Nanaimo.
A total of 11 district office are being closed in the province, including in Likely, Horsefly and Clinton, south of Prince George.
The bulk of the forestry cuts are not expected to take place in the first year as the B.C. Liberal government has not finished work to move to a results-based Forest Practices Code.
Cornered by Baldwin
Buster Brown, 37, of no fixed address.
COTS ARt
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
Although James Smith was spared from the first round of government cuts, the forest technician will learn on Jan. 28 if he has a long-term future with the government.
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