A sweeping core review of the provincial government won’t turn into a “witch hunt” of civil servants or an attack on the bureaucracy with the “ideological vengeance” seen during the last core review a decade ago, says the minister responsible.
Energy Minister Bill Bennett sought to reassure the provincial government’s nearly 30,000 employees that his newly re-elected Liberal government won’t cut as deeply as it did during a 2001 core review.
“I want the public service to know that this is by no means any sort of a witch hunt,” he said in an interview. “I want the public service to know that the minister in charge of this process actually has tremendous respect for how hard people work.”
Premier Christy Clark has said she wants Bennett to eliminate red tape and question whether existing government services help or hinder her plan to grow the economy, create jobs and encourage natural resource development.
Bennett, who was sworn in as Kootenay East MLA at the legislature Thursday, is in charge of the core review in addition to his energy duties.
He said he’ll establish a focus by August, with help from a group that includes Parksville-Qualicum MLA Michelle Stilwell.
“If [your] focus is not clear … you’ll chase your tail,” he said.
The B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union has said there’s no fat to trim and doesn’t know where it’s providing redundant services.
Bennett said his 12 years of experience as an MLA, and multiple cabinet portfolios, have shown him the value of a professional public service, and echoed the premier in saying he doesn’t expect major job losses.
“Going in this time, we all recognize that B.C. has the most efficient public service in the country and we’re not really expecting to find those kinds of low-hanging fruit,” Bennett said of layoffs.
“I hope we’re able to find ways of spending less money without people losing their jobs. That’s definitely what I’m hoping. But I can’t guarantee that’s going to be the case.”
During the core review in 2001, the Liberal government cut budgets in most ministries by one-third and eliminated thousands of jobs on a day civil servants called Black Tuesday.
“I can tell you, with considerable confidence, that you’re not going to see anything like a Black Tuesday or anything like that,” Bennett said.
The 2001 core review came after the Liberals inherited an NDP-run government in which “there was a fair bit of fat” to trim, Bennett said. But some of those cuts came with negative consequences, such as when hundreds of child-death review cases were improperly warehoused after the government cut the office of the children’s commissioner.
“I’m confident that we’re not going to create a situation similar to the [child-death review] one,” Bennett said.
“I think we are starting out from a different perspective. We’re not going at this with an ideological vengeance.
“There may be some people on our side of the political fence who might say we should. But that’s not the approach I’m going to take. I want to do this constructively and respectfully of everyone.”
The core review is set to run until the end of 2014, though Bennett said he hopes to finish it earlier than the deadline.
