XPost: dc.urban-planning, wa.politics   
   From: impeach_obama@yahoo.com   
      
   Ontario’s public sector workers tend to be far better off than   
   private employees, a new study says, even as the province   
   grapples to slay its growing deficit and curtail spending — a   
   full half of which is dedicated to salaries, wages and benefits.   
      
   The Fraser Institute study, to be released Wednesday, found that   
   federal, provincial and local government employees working in   
   Ontario earned 13.9% more wages, on average, than their private   
   sector counterparts in April, 2011. Government workers are also   
   three times more likely to be covered by a pension plan, far   
   less likely to lose their jobs and, on average, set to retire   
   more than a year earlier than private workers.   
      
   Co-author Jason Clemens said if the Ontario government is   
   serious about tackling the deficit — projected by the widely   
   cited 2012 Drummond Report to hit $30.2-billion by 2017 — it   
   will likewise need to tackle compensation.   
      
   “Pick a joke about governments going bankrupt and California is   
   the punch-line, but Ontario, on every measure we’ve looked at,   
   is worse than California,” Mr. Clemens said ahead of the study’s   
   release. “If the government is going to tackle this deficit,   
   they don’t have a choice — they’re going to have to deal with   
   wages and benefits.”   
      
   Although the study itself does not offer recommendations, Mr.   
   Clemens said the think-tank is slated to release a paper next   
   month suggesting systematic ways Ontario could curb government   
   spending on compensation. The chief problem, he said, is that   
   governments enter into expensive compensation deals when they   
   can afford them and then face tough union battles when the   
   economy slows and spending needs to be axed.   
      
   “The key is that this isn’t just an Ontario problem — it’s not   
   even a Canada problem,” Mr. Clemens said, adding that   
   governments of all political stripes have had to shrink   
   government compensation, pointing to the notorious Rae Days   
   under former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae in the 1990s. “The U.S.   
   arguably has an even worse problem and certainly Europe is   
   struggling with this right now, too…. This is a much larger   
   problem about the very nature of government.”   
      
   The report was released just one day after the Ontario   
   government promised to eliminate the province’s $12-billion   
   deficit by 2017-2018, and one year after renowned economist Don   
   Drummond released his report warning that Ontario needs to   
   “swiftly and boldly” implement a whopping 362 recommendations to   
   curb spending.   
      
   Mr. Clemens said the Fraser Institute is slated to issue its own   
   recommendations next month, including one that will suggest   
   formally tying public sector compensation to the private sector   
   — for example anchoring a government employee’s overall take-   
   home package, including wages and non-wage benefits such as   
   pension coverage and health benefits, to that earned by a   
   private worker in a similar position.   
      
   Stanley Winer, the Canada Research Chair Professor in Public   
   Policy at Ottawa’s Carleton University, said “it’s not a silly   
   idea” in principle but cautioned there are myriad difficulties   
   with taking such “radical action” in reality. Mr. Winer, who did   
   not read the report because it was not yet publicly released,   
   said oftentimes there is no equivalent job in the private sector   
   — police officers, for example. Beyond that, he said top private   
   sector workers in certain industries earn far more than their   
   public sector equivalents, which could mean the government ends   
   up ramping up pay in some instances.   
      
   This latest Fraser Institute study is the third to examine   
   public versus private sector compensation in a particular   
   province. In their report released last month, Mr. Clemens and   
   co-author Amerla Karabegovic found Alberta’s public sector   
   workers earned 10.3% more in wages, on average, than their   
   private sector counterparts in 2011, while those in B.C. earned   
   13.6% more and retired 2.8 years earlier, on average.   
      
   The Ontario study looked at 15,257 paid workers older than 15,   
   with federal, provincial and local government employees   
   accounting for 14.8%, 39.3% and 46% of public sector workers   
   respectively.   
      
   http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/20/ontario-is-worse-than-   
   california-province-must-address-soaring-public-sector-wages-to-   
   slay-deficit-new-study-says/#disqus_thread   
      
   --   
   Are you obligated as an armed civilian, to defend unarmed   
   liberals while you are both under fire by foreign agents of the   
   outlaw Obama administration?   
      
   No.  Shoot the liberals immediately so they can't stab you in   
   the back while you are defending yourself, then return a   
   controlled rate of aimed fire.       
      
          
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)