Province finally releases fiscal review, calls for 8 per cent reduction of civil service

The Manitoba government has finally released a report outlining how it can cut into the deficit.

The fiscal review was conducted by KPMG before the Progressive Conservatives put out their first budget, but has just now been shown to the public ten months after it was completed.

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Many of the recommendations have either already been put in place or have been dismissed as unappealing to Manitobans.

One plan already underway is to shrink the civil service from roughly 15,000 workers. The government wants to cut that down by eight per cent over three years, which works out to be about 1,200 workers.

“The size of the civil service in Manitoba is more than 20 per cent larger than the national average,” explained Finance Minister Cameron Friesen.

“When Manitobans hear that number, they’re going to think about that, and they’re going to ask themselves if they’re getting 20 per cent additional value for the services that we receive. I would answer no.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "When Manitobans hear that number, they're going to think about that, and they're going to ask themselves if they're getting 20 per cent additional value for the services that we receive. I would answer no."

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Friesen said that the government has already shrunk the service by almost five per cent since taking power.

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The report indicated that the turnover rate in the civil service is also about eight per cent per year, so Friesen wants the government to make smarter use of this turnover rate.

“The task for government, when it comes to shaping the size of our civil service, will be to do so over time with maximum focus on front-line investment to stabilize that change,” Friesen said. “Does this create an opportunity to look for areas of cooperation with other departments, is there an issue here of overlap, inefficiency or waste, what is the extent that technology can be used in this? We’re going to do that over time.”

The opposition New Democrats took exception to the timing of the release of the document, which is hundreds of pages long.

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“This is a cynical ploy to drop this report on the eve of a new session,” finance critic James Allum said.

“It certainly should have been dropped a year ago to give the people of Manitoba the opportunity to debate it. It’s too little, too late.”

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The report also calls on the government to clean up how each department is managed to improve outcomes and efficiency, as well as recommending that post-secondary tuition rise by the rate of inflation plus three per cent.

The full report can be accessed here.