There’s more than a little irony and perhaps a glimmer of hope that the major nightmare of the moment in Canada’s public sector has the name Phoenix attached to it. In Greek mythology it was the bird that arose from the ashes of its predecessor.
In Canada right now, it refers to the Phoenix Pay System, a bird that has yet to really take flight. The Harper Conservatives were the team who signed the deal, and the Trudeau Liberals cannot pass the buck any more.
On the Liberal watch, more than 80,000 federal employees have had a variety of difficulties getting paid. This past week, 486 of them got their first cheques since last winter, and another 234 public servants have been promised that they will be next. The words “How does this possibly happen?” seem rather inadequate do they not.
Some might argue that only in Canada would government employees drain away their personal savings and continue to report for work in the face of such a total mess.
Lest you thought that the folks in Ottawa really did know what they were doing when it comes to taking care of our money, here’s another horror story for you. Last month, we paid almost $33 million to Lockheed Martin of the U.S, the company that makes the F 35 fighter jet. This is to keep Canada in the game, should we ever decide that is the plane to replace the aging CF 18.
Wait a minute, didn’t Justin Trudeau promise during last year’s election campaign that a Liberal government would pull us out of any such deal? The behind the scenes horse trading that goes on between governments and defense contractors are the stuff that should have been written by someone like Franz Kafka, or maybe Freddy Kreuger.
Makes you want to wrap yourself in the Maple Leaf flag does it not?
I’m Roger Currie
