734a02c1
XPost: can.politics, ont.politics, tor.general
From: mastermind@work.now
An interesting account of working for just ONE department within the civil
service.
There are many, many others who do the same kind of 'enforcement' on programs
that
Canadians should be entitled to. One of the biggest abuses that comes to mind
is the
EI (Employment Insurance aka UNemployment Insurance) program. That is one
that is so
riddled with rules and restrictions that it really is a department that is
just a
cash cow for the federal government.
Harper is now being pressured by the Opposition parties to loosen up
qualifications
for entitlements to EI payments considering the huge recession Canada is in,
and the
hundreds of thousands of Canadians that have been forced out of work - under
the
Harper government.
No matter how many Canadians are now unemployed, desperate to find ways to pay
their
rent and feed their kids, Harper continues to support foreign workers coming
into
Canada to work. And he continues to enforce inequitable EI rules for
different areas
in Canada.
YOU might think that the job you had and the rules that you were made to
enforce were
the work of the RCMP, but in fact you were implementing the rules of a federal
bureaucracy that exists to this day.
The most recent figures from Ottawa show that the EI fund has a $57 BILLION
surplus.
Here's what the Conservatives said back in 2005, before they formed the
Government:
In a February 2005 report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on
Human
Resources, Skills Development, Social Development and the Status of
Persons with
Disabilities, then Official Opposition HRSDC critic Peter Van Loan
said:
"We believe that the slate must not be wiped clean. It is important to all
contributors that the government be held accountable. The
'notional
surplus' (now $46 billion) has been tracked for a reason - that is to
recognize what contributors have paid into Employment Insurance. The
Conservative Party believes that this surplus is the property of those who
have made
the contributions to Employment Insurance - the workers and
employers of Canada."
That was then. They could afford to lie until they could work their way into
Government. Now they are withholding those surpluses from unemployed in
Canada and
are using them for general spending on programs like new museums and olympic
games
and a losing war overseas.
Here's the scene today:
Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti :
He was responding to the release by Statistics Canada of labour force figures
for May
2009, when a net of 41,800 workers lost their jobs. In fact, 58,700 full-time
workers
were laid off in May 2009 but other part-time jobs were created. The
unemployment
rate rose to 8.4% - the highest in 11 years.
"We have now lost 406,000 full-time jobs since October 2008, and 1.55 million
Canadians are unemployed," Georgetti says. "Forecasts are that the
unemployment rate
will continue to increase over the next 12 months and a lot of Canadians
without work
will be left to fend for themselves. The Harper government has to fix
Employment
Insurance now."
______________________________
Canadians are supporting the current federal government through monies that
they
contributed to support themselves and their families in hard times. The hard
times
are here but the federal government refuses to release those insurance monies
to the
people who paid into the fund.
Do we accept this kind of citizen abuse by an arrogant government? Or do we
remove
them and make sure that there is a system in place for the next government to
not be
able to continue such an abuse of our monies?
"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message
news:c5d436a1-0954-446f-94d0-ce9ac92ab634@j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> Recently we have been hearing a lot about the tasering torture and
> death of Robert Dziekanski at the hands of four RCMP officers. I'm
> posting my confessions to my own complicity with crimes of the RCPM in
> 1972. They are not a bad as murder but it has haunted me for decades.
> I want to get it off my chest and maybe reach out to the victims.
>
> In high school we were shown the movie "Judgement at Nuremburg" so we
> were taught to recognize criminal government. We were taught "It can
> happen here."
>
> In 1972 I had just graduated university. I was very poor, living in an
> attic apartment near High Park. 1972 was the middle of the greatest
> economic recession in the history of the Trudeau regime. Unemployment
> was at historical levels and it was next to impossible for a young
> person to get a job. So I applied to work for the federal government
> and was accepted. It was the second time I had worked for the federa
> government and I thought I would be as happy as the first time.
>
> The job I accepted was with the Benefit Control Office of the
> Unemployment Insurance Commission as a clerk. I worked under the
> direction of a close knit group of semi retired RCMP officers. My job
> was to investigate and invalidate UIC claims.
>
> At that time, an entry level civil service job paid little and there
> was a six week waiting period before the first pay cheque. I was so
> poor that I needed to get welfare in order to pay my rent, to eat and
> for bus fare to work.
>
> Under the direction of the RCMP, benefit control officers were given a
> plan. The plan was to focus our attention of Portugese garment
> workers. By modern standards that would be known as racial profiling.
> I began to get uncomfortable with the objectives of the RCPM given my
> high school education. The final straw came when I disqualified a
> woman for benefits who was so desparate for subsistence that she
> failed to declare $14 that she earned on Christmas day.
>
> After six months of working under a squad of semi-retired RCMP
> officers I quit, because I could not stand the guilt. Here I was a
> former welfare recipient, forcing some poor woman I had never met,
> onto welfare, if she could get it. I'm sure she's dead now. I felt I
> was as bad as any Nazi.
>
> I have never forgotten the bad taste that federal civil service job
> left in my mouth after 37 years. On numerous occasions since I have
> applied for public service jobs and been refused. I'm sure I was black
> listed.
>
> In retrospect I should have been more proactive. The whole purpose of
> the benefit control office was to reduce government expenditure during
> a time of recession. The RCMP were earning top dollar and saving
> Canada small change. I was a youth and I was afraid. If I had any
> backbone I would have written to our philosopher king Pierre Elliot
> Trudeau and told him "If you want to save money, fire the RCMP". But
> they were big guys, well organized and they had access to guns so I
> said nothing.
>
[continued in next message]
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