Statement by Sharon DeSousa, PSAC National President

“Let me be clear: Prime Minister Carney’s austerity agenda is lazy, reckless and short-sighted and puts everyone in Canada at risk. 

We saw the devastating impacts of austerity under Stephen Harper and Paul Martin before him – veterans without the care they needed, border security stretched to the breaking point, cuts to the food inspectors who made sure the dinner on our tables is safe to eat. 

Slashing public service jobs means cutting services. Period. That means longer wait times for passports, employment insurance and child care benefits, cancelled programs for Canada’s most vulnerable communities, and a government that fails to deliver when people need it most.  

Carney’s government has a choice – it can be forward-looking and a model employer that creates good jobs to strengthen our economy and build a resilient Canada, or it can continue to use old-fashioned, ineffective and lazy approaches like austerity that just don’t work. 

We offered practical solutions to cut costs in our expenditure review submission, but we need a government that is truly willing to work with workers and unions — not around them.”