Mr. Chair and committee members, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to present to you this afternoon.
My name is Chris Aylward. I am the national executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. We represent approximately 170,000 federal public sector workers.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada has major concerns with the latest budget implementation bill, Bill C-45. Many of these legislative changes will have a drastic impact on Canadians and should not be rushed through Parliament without time for careful consideration, scrutiny, and debate.
My first comments are on the proposed changes to the federal public sector pension plans. These unilateral changes include increasing the normal retirement age from 60 to 65 for new hires beginning in 2013. PSAC opposes Bill C-45 because it is an attack on younger generations who make up the majority of new hires in the federal public sector. The increase in the retirement age will generate a two-tier system, creating inequities between young and older workers in the public service, forcing younger workers to retire at an older age. The public service pension plan is sustainable, and there is no reason to penalize young workers. Members of this committee should also be aware that the Canada pension plan and Quebec pension plan payments are integrated with federal public service pensions, and that the average annual pension received by retired federal public sector workers in 2011 was $25,991. PSAC calls on the government to focus on strengthening pensions for all Canadians, instead of weakening pension plans and retirement security for those dedicated to public service.
I also want to touch on a change to the Canada Revenue Agency Act contained in Bill C-45. I speak from a very personal advantage on this. This change will put the agency back under the authority of Treasury Board to oversee CRA's negotiating mandate, as well as certain terms and conditions of employment. This is a serious step backwards. Not only does the change in authority contradict some of the very reasons for creating the agency in the first place, it undermines a decade of hard work by the PSAC and the agency that have been put in place to develop effective labour relations. In fact, during the last two rounds of negotiations, both parties put considerable effort into reaching a settlement with the agency before the current collective agreement had expired. This is a first in the federal public service.
The PSAC has other concerns about Bill C-45 that echo much of the criticism being expressed by environmental, scientific, and aboriginal groups, and individual Canadians. I will not address these other concerns due to time constraints today; however, I will be providing the clerk of the committee with a short summary of our additional concerns for your information.
We believe Canadians are not well served by omnibus bills. Bill C-45 should be broken down into individual pieces of legislation so that parliamentarians and all Canadians have ample opportunity to study and understand the consequences of the proposed changes.
Before I close, I will take a few moments to reiterate our concern about significant changes to programs and services that affect the livelihoods, environment, and safety of Canadians, changes that are being made without transparency, and without hearing from those who depend on the services. Search and rescue and coast guard stations are being shut down, despite the pleas to reconsider coming from coastal communities. Veterans Affairs district offices are being closed across the country, including the one and only office in Prince Edward Island, located in Charlottetown. Case loads are almost doubling, despite the desperate situation faced by our veterans. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans' budget and fisheries habitat staff are being cut, yet the recently issued report of the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River reaffirmed the importance of restoring the Department of Fisheries and Oceans' mandate and resources to protect fish habitat.
We believe there is a need for more transparency about the scope and impact of all planned cuts to federal services and programs, and a need to listen to Canadians being affected.
Thank you very much. I look forward to your questions.