25 Replies to “Fact Checked”

  1. Nothin’ like using the government’s own StatsCan to show how fat the government has become.
    It took 14 years to rise from 104.9 in april’87 to 108.8 in april’00, a rise of “only” 4900.
    Lorne really knows how to dent unemployment in Sask…. wonder what he’ll do next term with all those extra petro dollars…?

  2. 120,400 simple servants!!! That boggles the mind. To put it in perspective, if you took every other man, woman and child in Saskatoon (or Regina), they would be civil servants! Actually more than half of either city. Imagine your highschool grad class and half of them end up working for the government.
    I haven’t found it but just how many of the 900,000+ saskatchewans are tax payers? That number (120,000) is absolutly staggering.

  3. 1. does that include federal workers? If so then some of thse 10700 could include goodale driven federal hiring.
    2. That number is probably far lower than NL’s I suspect. And it is a “conservative” government.

  4. From Canada Taxpayers Federation, for 2002, the number of income taxpayers in Saskatchewan was 463,100. In 2002 there were 110,000 civil servants to so the math. No wonder they are looking for more taxpayers… err I mean business to move in.

  5. Kate,it must be nice to be wrong but at the same time be twice as right as you thought you were!

  6. Shame on you Kate for not checking your numbers!
    It seems incomprehensible that there could be that many civil servants in a province this size. It does shed some light on how and why the elections in this province have been so close and split right down the Rural – Urban lines. The majority of the civil servants remain pretty close to the trough… I mean the city.
    Daniel

  7. So the ratio is about 1:8, 1 civil servant per 8 persons???
    Hmmm, that’s about the same ratio of children to workers in a daycare centre isn’t it?
    Is your government treating you like a child?
    Damn, I wonder how bad Manitoba is!

  8. The tax analogy quoted by Lance at Catprint is not quite accurate. While there is a net cost for the civil service, it isn’t ALL cost. Many areas of the gov’t actually are profit centers, or at least recover potentially lost tax revenue (well, maybe not in Sask :).

  9. It should be noted that the Grant Devine government actually made significant progress towards cutting the size of government — from 104.9k in 1987 down to roughly 103k when that government finally expired.
    A full 15k workers added during the NDP’s current reign of terror. And the Saskatchewan government was even quite bloated during the Devine administration.

  10. SK has the worst dependancy ratio of any province (ie: the number of people who depend upon gov to support them versus the number of people that suppor the system): we suffer from a bloated civil service, and a “hollowed-out” population, as many working-age young people leave, and the elderly and young FN people are left behind. We have the highest crime rates of any province (a reflection of numerous social problems) and, I suspect, very low mediam income. We have a bloated civil service that is acrtually priviledged when compared to the average SK resident. So when the civil servants collude with teh dependants that they serve to perpetuate the problem (the system), things get worse, not better. civil servants aligned with their dependant clients = the Clavertistas.
    Can SK get out of this rut?

  11. SK has the worst dependancy ratio of any province (ie: the number of people who depend upon gov to support them versus the number of people that suppor the system): we suffer from a bloated civil service, and a “hollowed-out” population, as many working-age young people leave, and the elderly and young FN people are left behind. We have the highest crime rates of any province (a reflection of numerous social problems) and, I suspect, very low mediam income. We have a bloated civil service that is acrtually priviledged when compared to the average SK resident. So when the civil servants collude with teh dependants that they serve to perpetuate the problem (the system), things get worse, not better. civil servants aligned with their dependant clients = the Clavertistas.
    Can SK get out of this rut?

  12. Texas canuck:
    You forgot to mention only half of the tax filers actually pay taxes so the ratio is 1 to 4
    We also have 130,000 resident who feel they are exempt from taxes.
    The biggest cancer in Sask is probably transfer payments which like welfare penalize provinces thst create wealth. Lorne thinks it is better to sit on your butt and collect welfare.
    When the US weaned have not states from transfers lo and behold Georgia and other states got off their duff and encouraged the economy and discovered they can manage without welfare.
    Most private compaies as big as governent do efficiency studies to get more productivity out of their workforce but government unions encourage and protect the incompetant.

  13. How many of those un-civil servants are employed in Quebec to offend visitors and tourists to Quebec…MY Canada?
    Quebec arrogance towards tourists? Unilingual? How come?
    ===== Canada Free Press =====
    My recent visit surprised me in that all highway signage was posted solely in French and as a unilingual Canadian I had to pay close attention to the signs in order to reach my destination. This was in sharp contrast with highway signage on provincial highways in the rest of Canada, which advises motorists in both official languages.
    Things weren’t much different at commercial concerns where most of the visible signage was in French and only the most mainstream multinational corporations’ products were labeled in both languages. I thought it was particularly odd for this to be the case in places like Mt. Tremblant, where the majority of visitors and chalet owners were Anglophones either from Ontario or from the U.S.
    ===== http://tinyurl.com/lryub =====
    The pendulum has swung too far towards a language extreme in Quebec. When tourists visit, I want them to feel welcome in my home province.
    It is a dangerous distraction when those from all countries who holiday in Quebec can find no clear roadway signage in English.
    Visitors from other parts of Canada also complain that there seems to be no English direction at dangerously intense highway intersections where quick decisions are called for.
    France has gained well known notoriety for attitudes of contempt for visitors. Canada is my country and I protest that Quebec *chieftains* should be allowed to break our bi-lingual language rules and our Canadian spirit of all-inclusive fairness to everyone. TG

  14. Tony, it also rips my butt that the language laws in Quebec break the charter right of freedom of expression. Example; An owner of an English language bookstore fined because her sign was in English!

  15. Do not bother to visit that little piece of France on our own soil .. namely Quebec.
    Don’t visit them, ever!

  16. so Kate, do you therefore agree that the elimination of the Dept. of Agriculture would be a good start in unbloating the civil service?

  17. You have forgotten about the nation’s two biggest luxury welfare sites; Yukon and Nun o it. Check out those stats on the same website. The Yukon’s own scources of income equals 124 m. the expendatures equal 739 m. ; income and consumption taxes (paid by gov’t workers also) equal about 50 m. You folks down south are giving the 29,000 people (15,000 workers) up here quite the free ride!! You should check out the Northern ‘perks’ that top up the wages of the teachers and paper shufflers and environmentals!! We have a Conservative gov’t but the premier is a not very well reformed Dipper. It is hard for a zebra to change stripes. We pay NO health premiums but the sick are regularily flown out , at your expense, to get attention for whatever ails them. The dole in Sask has a dollier pair of ‘little sisters’!!

  18. TonyGuitar,
    I don’t share your concern for the language rights of the west island anglos. They live a good life. Having lived in Quebec I am trying to imagine which signs are posted in French that are so dangerous? 20 Ouest? 40 Est? 25 Sud? 15 Nord? Construction? Sortie?
    It seems to me that one of the reasons why Quebec attracts so many tourists (American) is because the province is unique.
    I’m more worried about those signs in Toronto that say Caution: Boring Ahead.

  19. I think that SK should get out of the movie business: the new Crown Corp, SaskPorn, should be one of the first to go.

  20. I heard on talk radio a couple of years ago that in Saskatchewan 1 in 3 jobs are in some level of government be in federal, provincial or municipal. What I would really be interested in knowing is how many more provincial employees are there today compared to 12 years ago. Our population is down but you can bet that we have many more provincial civil servants.

  21. Gord: According to the footnotes from StatsCan on that search they define public-sector employees as:
    2. Those who work for a local, provincial or federal government, for a government service or agency, a crown corporation, or a government funded establishment such as a school (including universities) or hospital.
    Cheers,
    lance

  22. Bob,
    “What I would really be interested in knowing is how many more provincial employees are there today compared to 12 years ago”
    I found a powerpoint presentation last week … think it was stored in the U of Regina commerce page. It was a Canadian Taxpayers Federation presentation … I think. I also believe it said 8.4% increase since Calvin.

  24. Anseim
    I suppose Quebec is attracting so many tourists because of their uniqueness is one of the main reasons they are a huge province in Central Canada that is a have not province – needing billions of dollars from the rest of Canada to as they say “preserve their uniqueness”.
    Wonder if it is time for them to get rid of the uniqueness and maybe their economy will thrive including their tourist industry – hard to compare how their tourism would thrive if it is never given a chance.

  25. Here’s an example of bloat within SaskPower:
    http://www.oatioasis.com/SPC/SPCdocs/spc_sofcaforg.pdf
    see page 4, for the SaskPower Grid Control Centre “Org Chart”. 47 positions in total are listed in total to retain operational supervision over SaskPower’s operations on a 24/7 basis. This was as of 2003.
    Now, step forward to the latest one in 2006:
    http://www.oatioasis.com/SPC/SPCdocs/2006_Org_Charts_Apr_25_06.pdf
    (page 6)
    Count all the positions. I count 57, including 6 vacancies, which no doubt will be filled as soon as they can find card-carrying NDP supporters to fill them.
    Why so much additional bloat? The mandate and role of SaskPower has not changed over the past 3 years. Why do they need at least 21% more staff, just in that one department alone, to provide the same service as in 2003?

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation