Saturday, June 03, 2006

Declining Public Sector

Public sector employment
Year Federal government Provincial and territorial government Local government Total government Government business enterprises Total public sector

thousands
1990 406 1,387 869 2,663 365 3,027
1991 415 1,402 889 2,706 351 3,057
1992 411 1,409 904 2,725 338 3,063
1993 405 1,397 910 2,712 326 3,037
1994 394 1,376 909 2,679 324 3,003
1995 371 1,370 907 2,649 309 2,958
1996 356 1,315 907 2,579 273 2,851
1997 338 1,302 891 2,531 258 2,789
1998 331 1,300 888 2,518 261 2,779
1999 328 1,296 885 2,509 262 2,771
2000 335 1,304 882 2,521 266 2,787
2001 351 1,314 882 2,547 266 2,814
2002 359 1,335 887 2,582 264 2,846
2003 366 1,382 893 2,642 267 2,909
2004 367 1,393 916 2,676 265 2,941
2005 371 1,413 933 2,716 263 2,980
Numbers may not add up due to rounding.


Federal public sector jobs have declined since 1990. So has employment in the Post Office and other Canadian government businesses.What has increased is contracting out of public sector work , which Stats Canada defines as self employment. Such contracting out allows the State to benefit since wages, benefits, pensions etc. are downloaded onto the individual.

An estimated 2.5 million people were self-employed in Canada last year, representing 15.5 per cent of all workers.

The increase in provincial public sector jobs is not really an increase but a return to the levels before the drastic slash and burn policies of the neo-liberal state during the debt and defiict hysteria of the ninties. The increase probably corresponds to the increased hiring of doctors and nurses which has occured over the past four years.

While business likes to say they create jobs, the reality is that the state remains a major employer of Canadians.

A tip o the blog to My Blahg


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The Conservatives Sixth Priority

Screwing judges. Tories cut recommended pay hike for judges

Because of course as we all know;
Courts Stacked With Liberal Judges says Conservative Leader Harper

They voted for the independent commission when they were the opposition, now they refuse to accept its recommendations. Independent. Non government interefence. Hmmm what part of that don't the Tories understand.


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Full Monte


Ah poor Monte Solberg, minister of Immigration and silence over racism in his community, was shouted down by Jaggi Singh and other anarchist activists at a speech he was to give to a meeting organized by the liberal lobby group; Citizens for Public Justice.



The Blogging Tories are all in a tizzy over it.

Professional Protestor back to work

Protesters chase Solberg


Well unfortunately for all involved in this 'action' , mistakenly called a 'direct action' , the result will make it easy for Monte to justify crawling back into his hole , like that other
denizen of Southern Alberta; the gopher, not to come back out again in public.

Way to go guys. You just gave the notoriously secretive Conservative government and its Minister an excuse to stay behind closed doors. Not that they needed it.

You get 0 for strategy and -1 for tactics.


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Destroying the Federation


Link Byfield and his tax exempt foundation the so called Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democrary, funded by bankrupting the Alberta Report, will be holding a Right Wing Love in this fall in Calgary. Entitled ironically Renewing the Federation.

What they really want is to devolve all power to the provinces. More like destroying the federation. Whenever you have Citizens or Taxpayers in your name you know that the politics are to the right. Here is another irony, Alberta is a One Party State with far less accountability or transparency than any other government in the hemisphere. Yep this is real model for citizen democracy and freedom.

I
ncluded in his rouges gallery of speakers are several candidates for the leadership of the Alberta Party of Calgary, to replace Ralph. And Ralph will be speaking too. Presto Manning will be speaking. Its the Reform party alumni.

I have blogged about Byfield's right wing lobby effort before. His private club the CCFD wish to ban same sex marriage by allowing provinces to secede from Canada. That sums it up. Anyways they also can't spell.

The Sunday morning session begins with
Dr. Barry Cooper of the University of Calgary political science department, a prominent Canadian political author and commentator.

He will propose National Principle 3: "That national institutions and governments reflet (sic) and respect the exclusive responsibility of provinces for social and economic development."

And while there is a need for a new confederation in Canada, this is not it.

The Bankruptcy of Liberal Federalism



Also See:

Link Byfield

Macleans the New Alberta Report


Social Credit And Western Canadian Radicalism


Historical Memory on the Eve of the Election


Calgary Herald Remembers RB Bennet

Right to Life = Right To Work

Western Canadian Populism

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Capitalism With A Soul


Socially Responsible Investing, mutual funds that invest in Nice Corporations, or force Corporations to be nice. Mutual Funds. The very origin of ponzi investing schemes in the United States after WWII. Outlawed and regulated after the 1929 crash Mutual Funds became a form of Peoples Capitalism with advent of Bernie Cornfeld and IOS.

Cornfeld and his pals ironically were Trotskyites for a short period while in college. Reminding us of the Trots who later became the very backbone of the neo-conservative movement in the United States. Anyways after the IOS scandal mutual funds were disreputable until the 1980's when they became popular again. Especailly after the 1987 crash which they survived. Today credit unions, peoples capitalism, promote socially responsible mutual funds. They are big in Canada as well as the US. As Motely Fool reports;
Stocks With Scruples

Here's the scoop, and please don't take it too personally: It really doesn't matter how you feel about SRI. Like it or not, this way of investing has already made its presence known in the press and in the boardroom, on campus and in congregations, through a larger number of tailored securities products, increased shareholder activism, and greater corporate acknowledgement. According to the Social Investment Forum's fifth biennial report on investment trends, which was released in January, SRI investment assets have grown faster since 1995 than all other managed assets in this country -- more than 258%. That report documents an 18.5% increase in SRI mutual funds and a 16% rise in social and corporate governance resolutions over the past two years.
And surprisingly SRI mutual funds did better in May than other mutual funds. Proving you can have your cake and eat it too. Peoples Capitalism, ethical investing, oh joy make that an Americana Vente low fat with two sugars please.

May not a merry month for mutual fund investors and salespeople


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Soccer Scandal Canadian Style

As we get closer to the World Cup more soccer scandals are being exposed. In this case its a Vietnamese mafioso who came to Canada as one of the boat people, those folks who hid their wealth on their bodies and hit the ocean to escape 'Socialist Viet-Nam'. Strange but after many so called poor oppressed boat people got here the first thing they did was start jewelry stores, having brought their stolen wealth from Viet Nam here.

Sorry but I figure after the Viet Nam war folks had the responsibility to help rebuildtheir country. But under the infulence of the Americans, who deserted them, they figured they would take their ill gotten gains from war profiteering and head West. Where they were welcomed with open arms by the folks who kept them in power during the war years.

And the reason we have an increase in Vietnamese crime gangs is because many of the kids who came here had known nothing but war. And war, creates a messed up psyche. Gee who woulda thunk it. So imagine all those other children around the world growing up in war. As they migrate around the world, as they grow older expect more violent gang crime. Life in a warzone is cheap.

Anyways this gangster was busted in Viet Nam in the eighties and then fled to Canada as politcal refugee no doubt. Where he set up his gang. Interesting story. Tip o the blog to; Frost Hits The Rhubarb.


Oh and for those who cheer the new capitalist Viet-Nam well read on in the story to find out about the scandal not only over betting but road construction which was privatized. Road Construction. Privatization. Gee sounds like the Alberta Government.


Vietnam police investigating a high profile corruption case involving government officers in Hanoi have arrested a Canadian who is reputedly the head of an international criminal syndicate.

The crime gang called "Long Haul" operates in Canada, Europe and Asia specializing in drug trafficking, money laundering, and organized betting on international soccer games, police said according to Vietnam-based news sources.

The Canadian was identified as 46-year-old Ngo Tien Dung alias Dung Kieu.

The Vietnamese native also uses the names Dung Hanoi and Lai Thanh Huu and reportedly operated out of Vancouver and Toronto.

A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Canada told The Asian Pacific Post that the Canadian Embassy in Hanoi is aware of the detention and is providing consular assistance.

She refused further information citing the privacy legislation.

The RCMP, when contacted, said they had no information to share about the suspect.

Dung, according to a police reports in Hanoi was jailed in the late 1980s in Bac Thai jail for fraud and misappropriating other people’s assets.

Seventeen years ago, he allegedly killed another prisoner at the jail and escaped.

He then fled to Canada where he led the Long Haul mafia before returning to Vietnam in 1994 posing as a wealthy Viet kieu (overseas Vietnamese) investor.

Vietnamese media said Dung changed his named to Lai Thanh Huu in Canada, obtained citizenship and has traveled to Vietnam at least 35 times as an overseas businessman.

News reports said Dung is "the owner of five villas in Canada, one of which is worth US$7 million" and that he is believed to have laundered a whopping US$26 million in Vietnam through business contracts.




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Friday, June 02, 2006

Don't Ask Don't Tell


This is intrusive; a supposed survey of the sexual orientation of teachers and staff in Halifax public schools. Why? Oh cause we are concerned about human rights say the bosses, oh really or is it a fishing expedition?! MYOB!

N.S. teachers union cautioning against filling out sexual orientation survey

HALIFAX (CP) - A teachers union has cautioned its members against filling out a survey being distributed by the Halifax school board that asks about their sexual orientation, warning the sensitive information might not be protected.

The Nova Scotia Teachers Union said the roughly 8,000 teachers and other staff receiving the one-page questionnaire with their pay stubs Thursday should consider leaving several sections blank.

While the union can't offer direct advice about filling out the survey, spokesman Grant MacLean warned of the risks in completing sections that ask respondents to identify themselves as homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual, and then list their name and employee number.



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Stupid Smoking Laws

I can't believe I actually agree with this guy, but then he wrote this; Tough Anti-Smoking Laws Blanket Canada . Occasionally, rarely, maybe just this one time. The fact is you can outlaw smoking but that will not stop cancer. Cancer is caused by industrial capitalism.

Test shows pollutants in kids' blood, urine

Toxic shock

Toxic Shock, Part 1: A review by federal regulators has determined that chemicals once thought to be benign are potentially dangerous for the physical health of Canadians.


Federal regulators have determined that about 4,000 chemicals used for decades in Canada pose enough of a threat to human health or the environment that they need to be subjected to safety assessments.

The sheer number of chemicals needing review means there is probably not a person in Canada who hasn't been exposed to some of them.

While many are industrial compounds, others are widely used to make everyday products found in practically every home and office in the country, ranging from hair dryers to water bottles, fast-food wrappers, TVs, computer casings and the inside of tin cans.


A tip o the blog to I Didn't Get Where I Am Today




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Work Sucks


The headlines say it all, the problem is that workers continue to drag their asses into work, or even take all that stress home with them and work from there. Their misplaced loyalty is seldom rewarded since our bosses are psycopaths.

We need to quit enabling these sick bosses, who download more and more work onto us in the name of productivity, which is wage slavery. Work is driving us nuts.
Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Comrades the revolutionary struggle is the struggle against work, that is against wage-slavery.

Work stress toll continues to rise

The stress of increasingly demanding jobs and invisible tethering to wireless devices is taking a rising physical toll on Canadian employees, according to a health study.

Twenty-one per cent of workers experienced physical health problems because of stress or depression in the past year that were bad enough to make them want to call in sick, the survey of 1,501 Canadian employees by Montreal-based pollster SOM for Desjardins Securities found.


The 'presenteeism' problem

Employers, who have long worried about absenteeism among their employees, should also be concerned about "presenteeism," suggests a report released today by a Canadian financial institution.

"In Canada, employees put work first -- before family and friends," says the report by Desjardins Financial Security, which argues that in doing so, everyone loses, including the employer.

Money worries trigger mental illness: Survey
Toronto Star, Canada - 12 hours ago
Maxed-out credit cards, BlackBerrys that buzz at all hours, and fear of being replaced were considered the most common triggers of mental health problems that

Health survey highlights

Is your job making you sick?

Stressed-out Canadians are putting work first, exacerbating mental health problems that affect their productivity and well-being, according to a survey released today.

Is your boss a corporate psychopath?
Answer 6 short questions to find out if you're working for a corporate psychopath.

Psychopath in a suit

See


Goof Off Day


The Right To Be Greedy

Relatively Speaking

Capitalism Kills


Outlaw Working Alone


Whose Family Values?



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Thursday, June 01, 2006

Share The Wealth


Inco workers win takeover protection, raises

With the mere threat of a strike. In a boom economy, when nickel prices would go through the roof if they struck. While the big Canadian mininge Corporations are in the midst of an orgy of mergers and acquisitions, that is market monopoly, the mineworkers got job protection. Way to go.

The agreement "reflects Inco's extremely strong financial position and recognizes our members' contribution to that success, as well as protecting Inco employees through any merger or takeover process," Fraser said in a release.


But no matter how well paid or what signing bonuses they get they still won't be making as much as this guy.


Inco Ltd. Scott Hand, CEO
$10,715,736
Salary:$1,240,969 Bonus:$2,416,888 Subtotal:$3,657,857 12% chg
Other:$161,791 Share Units:$2,436,903 Option Gains:$4,459,173
TOTAL:$10,715,736 New option grant: 54,000 ($800,789)


Even though it is the mineworkers who create the weath. Which is proven by the fact that had they gone on strike nickel would have become more valuable as well as making the companies involved more valuable. Maye the Steelworkers settled to short, and should have demanded shares and a seat on the board.

A looming strike at Inco Ltd.'s key Sudbury operations could send nickel prices higher and potentially make Inco's offer for Falconbridge Ltd. more attractive. That's because a strike at Inco's Sudbury operations, which account for roughly 9 per cent of global nickel output, tends to mean higher nickel prices as traders bet on potential shortages.
Also See:

Criminal Capitalism: Xstrata


Monopoly


Inco

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