Letter to the editor

A4

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Speak Up

It was recently announced that the province's top civil servants will receive up to a five per cent pay raise retroactive to April 1st. This announcement comes on the heels of the province announcing pay raises and hefty bonuses for NB Power executives and deputy ministers, all of which will come from your pocket.

According to the Liberals, doing this will help make senior bureaucrats more accountable and help attract competitive talent down the road. I find this a weak argument since they were the ones who chose to eliminate the Internship Program, which helped government seek out New Brunswick's best and brightest. As far as I can remember, government has never had a problem recruiting and retaining people for these positions.

Senior civil servants are already well paid to implement government policies and it is unreasonable to add gratuitous bonuses simply to get the job done. This is just the Liberal's way to persuade senior staff to meet their self-serving political agenda.

The Official Opposition does not support unjustified pay increases and believes the province already has a competent pool of civil servants who can get the job done without these incentives or bonuses.

Instead of finding savings from within to reward already well paid senior civil servants, government should be working to pass those savings on to already over burdened taxpayers. Wouldn't it be great if all New Brunswickers were given a raise to help cope with rising taxes, not to mention soaring energy and fuel prices?

Jeannot Volpé,

Leader of the Official Opposition of New Brunswick