Cut expensive partisan posts

Our new premier, Mr. Moe, has vowed to remove provincial sales tax on insurance premiums, and to pay for this by reducing the public service workforce by five per cent. While this may be controversial, it is within the prerogative of an elected government.

It may, however, be easier to say than to do. Mr. Wall’s administration pledged to reduce the government workforce by 15 per cent, but did not succeed. The actual workforce by the end of 201617 was down 903 positions from 2006-07, a reduction of less than eight per cent.

One reason for this failure is a sharp rise in executive-salaried positions, from 708 in 2006-07 to 1,097 last year. This is an increase of 389 senior positions or 55 per cent. Almost all of these new positions are partisan political appointments, and thus they add little or no value to government service delivery.

The salary cost of these new senior positions, as determined from Public Accounts, is $62 million per year. The revenue from PST on insurance premiums was projected at $158 million per year.

May I respectfully suggest to the new premier that his starting point to replace the PST insurance revenue should be elimination of these 389 superfluous executive positions, which would account for at least 40 per cent of foregone PST revenue.

It would also be a step toward restoring a more professional, non-partisan public service, with no negative impact on services to the taxpaying public. Rick August, Regina