What McFadyen’s cuts would mean to YOU!

We know that Hugh McFadyen’s personal ideology would compel him to balance the Budget on a year-over basis.

Though Hugh has been trying to run away from this for the past couple of months, the fact remains that had Team Hughie been successful with their amendment to last years Budget, there would have been cuts to public services to the tune of $450 Million.

We also know that Team McFadyen has targetted Health, Education, Policing, Corrections, and Community programs for cuts.

But what does this really mean?

Well, to start, extreme cuts to public services was the response of the last Conservative government here in Manitoba….and it was a miserable failure.  Not only did they sack more than a thousand nurses and institutionalize hallway medicine, they increased our taxes and ran up the largest deficits in our history.

Hugh McFadyen’s mentor, needlessly hacked and slashed Manitoba deeper into the recession of the 1990s, and his actions unnecessarily prolonged our economic pain.

At $1oo,000 a pop, cutting $450 Million would toss 4,500 Manitobans out of work immediately.  If each of those now unemployed Manitobans have three immediate family members, then he immediate, personal impact directly affects 18,000 Manitobans.

Most people have a circle of friends, say seven to ten.  They hear the troubles of the recently unemployed, and the next thing you know, 126,000 to 180,000 are put on watch.

Their understandble reaction is to pull back spending, put their lives on hold.

Reconsider the purchase of a new house, or car.

Renovations? mmmmk, Sandra just lost her job, perhaps we can live without those energy-efficient and spiffy looking new windows, or doors.

All of a sudden that night-out turns into another evening at home.

While it was nice being able to buy a 4,000 square foot house on Ruskin Row for $177,000, it was the sign of a totally dead economy.

My good friend Colin Craig over at the Canadian alleged Taxpayers Federation, or Dan Kelly at the CFIB, like to rage against publc services and the people who deliver them.  What they ignore, and many don’t take the to stop and think about are the impacts on all of us with such extreme and reckless policy decisions.

When you rage against the publc sector in Manitoba, you are attacking the more than 177,000 people who work for the public sector.  To be clear, that number includes all publc servants, not just those employed delivering core government of Manitoba services (~17,000).

“Well”, one might say, “cutting $450 Million dosen’t mean that 4,500 nurses, or police officers will be thrown out of work”.

Indeed, that is correct.

One could take the pen, sack some people  and kill spending in some other areas.

And what would that mean?

Where do you work and from where does your employer derive revenue from?

Here is a list of 95 companies that do business with the government of Manitoba.

See any familier names?

Oh, there are thousands of companies that do business with the government and if Hugh where to be given the chance, the chances are your company will face a reduction in sales.  We know that when that happens…..well, chances are it won’t be your boss that’s the one on the unemployment line.

The point is, when Hugh, Colin, Dan, or others start ranting on about squishing the publc service; think of what it means to you, not only in terms of fewer nurses, doctors, police officers, and educators – but in the very real impacts on Manitoba businesses.  One of which may be your employer.