XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
   From: 40%Çonned@cda.ca   
      
   Sorta like the introduction of the ATM machines at banks, isn't it?  One step   
   'forward' . . . .   
   5 steps back . . . .   
   _________________________________   
      
   August 16, 2011  - Globe and Mail Update   
      
   BC Hydro, government to set timeline for cuts and job losses   
      
   Rich Coleman says proposed $800-m in cuts should not 'sit on shelf and collect   
   dust'   
      
   Energy minister Rich Coleman will sit down Tuesday with the president of BC   
   Hydro to hammer out   
   a timeline for $800-million in spending cuts at the Crown corporation that   
   will spell major job   
   losses.   
      
   "We're going to walk through the recommendations and set out expectations - I   
   don't want this to   
   sit on the shelf and collect dust," Mr. Coleman said in an interview Monday.   
      
   The cuts are recommended in a review, commissioned by Mr. Coleman and made   
   public last week,   
   that aims to rein in proposed electricity rate hikes.   
      
   BC Hydro's president, Dave Cobb, has agreed with the government's demand that   
   Hydro cut its   
   requested rate hikes in half - to 16 per cent from 32 per cent over three   
   years.   
      
   But Mr. Cobb is resisting the formula laid out by the panel for cuts. The   
   panel of three senior   
   bureaucrats concluded that the Crown, with the equivalent of 6,000 full-time   
   positions, needs to   
   trim its payroll dramatically.   
      
   "The panel believes that a more reasonable staffing level would be in the   
   order of 4,800   
   employees," the report states. Mr. Cobb countered that the costs could be   
   contained while   
   maintaining a staff of 5,600.   
      
   The unions representing Hydro workers have also lashed out. On Monday, David   
   Black, president of   
   the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union Local 378, called the   
   panel's report   
   "deeply flawed" and called for the government to go back to the drawing board.   
      
   But Mr. Coleman stood by the panel's recommendation. "I think the report was   
   pretty clear that   
   it should be 4,800 people - I think we have to work to that."   
      
      
   *******************************************************   
   "We CAN look after each other better than we do today.   
   We CAN have a fiscally responsible government.   
   We CAN have a strong economy; greater equality; a clean environment.   
   We CAN be a force for peace in the world."                      - Jack Layton   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)