Saskatchewan Party hopefuls pitch strategies for savings in civil service
Part of the Saskatchewan government’s plan to balance the books in three years depends on its ability to achieve a 3.5-per-cent wage reduction in the public service, and most of the people running to become the next premier currently support that plan.
In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the province targeted $250 million in public sector compensation savings. But just a few months later that target is being reduced to $125 million.
Unions are reluctant to negotiate rollbacks during collective bargaining, but Premier Brad Wall remains confident the 3.5-per-cent target will be reached and notes that it is key to the back-to-balance plan.
Those vying to take the outgoing premier’s job largely feel the same.
But Ken Cheveldayoff is looking to change course altogether when it comes to finding government savings.
Rather than roll back wages, he is proposing a plan to roll back the overall size of the civil service by 15 per cent over four years.
It’s a move reminiscent of 2010, when the Saskatchewan Party moved to cut 1,800 of its 12,000 government positions over four years.
Cheveldayoff said he found at that time it was an “excellent way” to do things because it allowed government ministries a longer-term way of planning for the reductions.
“It was done through attrition almost exclusively because of the high turnover that we have in the public service, and we were able to make sure that the level of service for Saskatchewan residents wasn’t affected at all,” he said.
Pink slips were not altogether avoided the last time the civil service was reduced, but Cheveldayoff said he believes in smaller government and “that we should reduce it wherever possible.”
Tina Beaudry-Mellor said that right now she is still supporting the government’s plan, but suggested she is considering extending the province’s three-year back-to-balance plan. “It will be finite, it will not be just kick the can down the road to whenever,” she said, noting she wants to avoid making already difficult economic times worse for people.
Scott Moe, who was a member of cabinet and approved of the backto-balance plan, said “the current direction of the government is the direction of the candidate, and that includes me.”
He said any proposed policy straying away from that current plan — in regards to public sector wages or anything else — would have to have financial costing because it could change the outcome of the three-year back-to-balance agenda.
“If you make changes, there are subsequent implications,” he said. “I’m not saying we won’t be making proposals that may have financial impacts, but we are looking very much at how we could offset those proposals to ensure we stay on a three-year plan to balance.”
Alanna Koch said she wants to “wait and see” what is accomplished through collective bargaining when it comes to the 3.5-per-cent reduction.
As the former head of the civil service — or, the boss for many of those now facing a 3.5-per-cent reduction, Koch said she was committed to finding savings in other areas. She listed removing duplicated services in government and its Crowns — such as legal services, internal audits and payroll — as examples.
Despite being the head of the civil service, she stepped away from taking any responsibility for the decision to roll back public wages.
“I was not a decision-maker at the table,” she said, adding she was “the messenger for the government to send that decision out.”
Still, Koch admits support to the back-to-balance plan and the 3.5-per-cent wage reduction is part of that plan.
Gord Wyant — another cabinet minister at the table when the plan was made — said that if the province is unable to achieve the 3.5-per-cent target then he may look elsewhere, but for now, “I’m still committed to ensuring the government lives within its means and balances its budget, so the plan laid out by the government is the plan that I endorse.”