It was eye-rollingly predictable that if one went looking, one would find that the Trudeau Liberals have, during their eight years in power, hired a massive number of new civil servants. Sure enough, according to the Treasury Board, the Liberals have grown the civil service by 100,000 people since 2015 for a 2023 total of 357,247. That's a 40% increase in eight years.They will tell you of course, that as Canada's population grows, it would be natural for the civil service to grow with it. However, an 11% growth in population (from 35.6 million to 39.6 million during those eight years) cannot justify a 40% growth in civil servants. In any case, if you're in the business of shuffling forms, an 11% growth in traffic seldom requires a commensurate increase in staff. Everybody just works a bit harder. At least, that's what it's like around here: Talk to our circulation manager.No, something else is going on here. Taking the Occum's Razor approach, it is probably incompetency, pure and simple. However, it is surprising how the Liberals can make incompetency work for them, viz:1) Civil service hiring is an easy way to create jobs, lower the unemployment numbers and claim victory on the jobs front. Rachel Notley did it in Alberta. 2) Civil servants tend to be Liberal. That's not surprising, for two reasons. First, if you are a civil servant, why would you ever vote for a party that's all about smaller government? From the point of view therefore of a Liberal government, it makes sense: More civil servants, more Liberal votes. In a tight race in a government town, that could make a difference. Second, when Liberal governments fall, Liberal staffers are offered preferential hiring within the permanent civil service. Stephen Harper thought that was outrageous, it was outrageous and he refused to do it when we lost in 2015.Of course, there aren't too many former Conservative staffers in the civil service, either.3) Civil service hiring is also an easy way to create jobs for new immigrants who might otherwise have difficulty fitting into the labour force. With more than a third of the 465,000 people who entered the country last year falling under some kind of compassionate/family reunification/non-economic program, this would have to be a consideration.4) The Trudeau Liberals are quite up front about this. The Public Service Commission's latest report says, "We continued to work with departments and agencies to increase the representation of employment equity group members in the federal public service by collaborating in recruitment, and by addressing barriers to employment, career development and retention, while promoting inclusion and accessibility. This year we ran recruitment campaigns for students and other candidates focused on hiring persons with disabilities and Indigenous Peoples."Indeed they did. A friend of mine recently shared their form-letter rejection notice for a promotion. It conceded that they were qualified but that candidates would be sorted on the basis of Employment Equity self-declaration status. Thus visible minorities, indigenous persons and people with disabilities would have the inside track. Yes, you heard right. And this is nothing new. I first ran into this when another friend was applying to be a judge, back in 2016. Here's the form he was asked to fill in..When you fill out the job application forms these days, it matters more how you tick these boxes, than your educational qualifications or your job experience. Having no boxes that he could legitimately tick, he never even got a call back.And so now we can arrive at a formal theory of why the Liberals have allowed the civil service to blossom. In the old days when it was actually a considerable accomplishment to pass the civil service entrance exam, you got a better grade of new hire. Now, when merit is not the main consideration , maybe not so much? No wonder then that it takes more of them to do the same job.What a racket.
It was eye-rollingly predictable that if one went looking, one would find that the Trudeau Liberals have, during their eight years in power, hired a massive number of new civil servants. Sure enough, according to the Treasury Board, the Liberals have grown the civil service by 100,000 people since 2015 for a 2023 total of 357,247. That's a 40% increase in eight years.They will tell you of course, that as Canada's population grows, it would be natural for the civil service to grow with it. However, an 11% growth in population (from 35.6 million to 39.6 million during those eight years) cannot justify a 40% growth in civil servants. In any case, if you're in the business of shuffling forms, an 11% growth in traffic seldom requires a commensurate increase in staff. Everybody just works a bit harder. At least, that's what it's like around here: Talk to our circulation manager.No, something else is going on here. Taking the Occum's Razor approach, it is probably incompetency, pure and simple. However, it is surprising how the Liberals can make incompetency work for them, viz:1) Civil service hiring is an easy way to create jobs, lower the unemployment numbers and claim victory on the jobs front. Rachel Notley did it in Alberta. 2) Civil servants tend to be Liberal. That's not surprising, for two reasons. First, if you are a civil servant, why would you ever vote for a party that's all about smaller government? From the point of view therefore of a Liberal government, it makes sense: More civil servants, more Liberal votes. In a tight race in a government town, that could make a difference. Second, when Liberal governments fall, Liberal staffers are offered preferential hiring within the permanent civil service. Stephen Harper thought that was outrageous, it was outrageous and he refused to do it when we lost in 2015.Of course, there aren't too many former Conservative staffers in the civil service, either.3) Civil service hiring is also an easy way to create jobs for new immigrants who might otherwise have difficulty fitting into the labour force. With more than a third of the 465,000 people who entered the country last year falling under some kind of compassionate/family reunification/non-economic program, this would have to be a consideration.4) The Trudeau Liberals are quite up front about this. The Public Service Commission's latest report says, "We continued to work with departments and agencies to increase the representation of employment equity group members in the federal public service by collaborating in recruitment, and by addressing barriers to employment, career development and retention, while promoting inclusion and accessibility. This year we ran recruitment campaigns for students and other candidates focused on hiring persons with disabilities and Indigenous Peoples."Indeed they did. A friend of mine recently shared their form-letter rejection notice for a promotion. It conceded that they were qualified but that candidates would be sorted on the basis of Employment Equity self-declaration status. Thus visible minorities, indigenous persons and people with disabilities would have the inside track. Yes, you heard right. And this is nothing new. I first ran into this when another friend was applying to be a judge, back in 2016. Here's the form he was asked to fill in..When you fill out the job application forms these days, it matters more how you tick these boxes, than your educational qualifications or your job experience. Having no boxes that he could legitimately tick, he never even got a call back.And so now we can arrive at a formal theory of why the Liberals have allowed the civil service to blossom. In the old days when it was actually a considerable accomplishment to pass the civil service entrance exam, you got a better grade of new hire. Now, when merit is not the main consideration , maybe not so much? No wonder then that it takes more of them to do the same job.What a racket.
