Government not at war with public service: Clement

OTTAWA – The Conservatives have slashed tens of thousands of civil servants from their payroll, initiated a performance-review system for those employees and, most recently, announced their intention to reform the public service sick day regime. But Treasury Board President Tony Clement says he wouldn’t characterize the relationship between the two parties as a war.

“In fact,” he said, “a lot of the reforms that I’m pursuing … are related to making it easier for productive civil servants to do their jobs, to gain the credit when they excel, to help them if they are under performing.”

Further, Clement said he receives positive feedback from the “rank and file” of the public service, despite what Canadians may be hearing from their union leaders.

In an interview on the Global News program The West Block, host Tom Clark pointed out that job actions foreign service officers are taking – protesting and picketing embassies and walking off the job, for example – would suggest otherwise.

The foreign service officers are demanding “equal pay for equal work.” Specifically, they are seeking wage adjustments they say would keep their salaries in line with comparable employees elsewhere in the federal public service.

Still, Clement maintains his government is taking the appropriate steps in dealing with the issue.

“I tabled what I thought was a fair and reasonable offer,” he said. “It certainly was within the pattern of the deals that we’ve been making with other parts of the public service.”

For more with Treasury Board President Tony Clement, watch the video above.