Updated: Oct 06, 2017
After months of pressure from the media and public, the government has finally released part of the KPMG report – a taxpayer-funded report written by private consultants and commissioned by the Pallister government to provide advice on spending cuts.
When releasing the report, the government confirmed it will accept KPMG’s recommendation to cut the civil service by eight percent over the next three years. The Finance Minister says this adds up to 1,200 fewer positions, most of which he claims will be eliminated through attrition.
Those in the civil service have already seen the workforce shrink by over 700 people in the past year alone, but the Minister would not clarify if these 700 positions are included in the 1,200.
“In the short time that we’ve had with the report, we can see a roadmap for cuts and privatization,” MGEU President Michelle Gawronsky said. “These cuts will mean fewer probation officers keeping communities safe, fewer water-testers to protect the environment, fewer workers to keep vulnerable children in care safe, and fewer highways staff to clear snow off our roads.”
The MGEU sounded the alarm when KPMG was first selected to conduct the report given their track record.
“They have been hired by governments across Canada, and their reports have been used to sell a number of privatization schemes. Manitobans need to know this is the firm that the PC government worked with in the ‘90s when they tried to privatize home care in Manitoba, and they helped privatize Hydro One in Ontario.”
Other KPMG Recommendations Still Unavailable to Manitobans
Yesterday’s report arrived on the same day the Victoria General Hospital Emergency Room closed. About 38 MGEU members are being left without jobs as a result of the cuts, which were guided, in part, by the KPMG report. However, sections dealing with health care in the report will not be released until May 2018.
The MGEU will continue to analyze the nearly 900 page report for more details about how members will be affected.