Justification (II)

Here's sad-sack Felix Collins again on April 6th, weakly justifying Dundergov's new-found opposition to whistleblower protection legislation that Dandergov promised, in 2007, to implement in the first session of the about-to-expire legislature:

Mr. Speaker, before we embark upon legislation, before we expend significant funds and create more bureaucracy, we will continue to learn from the growing pains of other jurisdictions until we are satisfied that we will bring to this House a bill that is well thought out, thorough and effective to meet the needs of this Province. We need the time to do it right. To proceed immediately, Mr. Speaker, does not give us that time. That is the reason we will be voting against this motion.

For the record: in 2004 there were 9581* provincial government employees, with a total payroll of $368-million.

That's not including other public sectors such as health or education. Just provincial government direct employment.

"Bureaucracy", if you will.

In the twelve months ending March 2010 (the most recent data available), there were 11,263* provincial government employees, with a total payroll of $530-million.

That's an 18% increase in the total number of provgov employees, and a 44% absolute increase in the provgov payroll. (Adjusted for inflation, the payroll increase is "only" 29%.)

Does anyone know when this crowd found the religion of worrying about the funds they spend or the bureaucracy they create? Such deep-rooted concerns were nowhere to be found in the past seven years.

* Twelve-month average, to flatten out the seasonality in provincial government staffing levels.