Public Sector Employees Want To Stay In Charlottetown

Published
by
Councillor Rob Lantz
on February 19, 2009
in Miscellaneous
. 5 Comments

I’m happy to see UPSE president Shelley Ward questioning the wisdom of moving two provincial government departments out of the capital city. Clearly the union membership is not pleased. I also spoke out against this move when it was announced. It’s bad for Charlottetown; it will disrupt the lives of many involved; and will only create a new commuter class of employees who travel to and fro across the island everyday while providing little economic impact for the target communities.

5 Responses to “Public Sector Employees Want To Stay In Charlottetown”

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  1. 1 Ken
    February 21, 2009 at 12:43 pm

    New commuter class? Typical charlottetown centric mindset in making that statement: the commuting class may be invisible to you, but I assure you they’ve been traveling from summerside,montague,tignish since before you could drive. This will shift the burden of commuting to Charlottetown.

    It is also the same principle that led Ottawa to put VAC & CRA in PEI, we live by decentralization – it is half of our economy in PEI at Ottawa’s discretion.

    Finally, it is like rep by pop; rather jobs by taxes. Summerside provincial taxpayers deserve provincial employment in their area. As a bonus, the singular mindset of a city will not dominate provincial beautacracies.

  2. 2 Ken
    February 21, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    That was a typo, beautocracies, meant beaurocrocies. Beauty, eh?

    I love Charlottetown too, give Summerside and Montague some Charlottetownishness (except for that monopolistic streak).

  3. 3 Councillor Rob Lantz
    February 21, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Hi Ken,

    While you might make some valid points, having a Charlottetown centric mindset is part of the job I was elected to do. And there’s no arguing that what’s good for Summerside and Montague in this case, is bad for Charlottetown.

    Why not concentrate on creating new employment outside the capital? This move creates zero net economic impact for Prince Edward Island, or perhaps less than zero if you figure the cost of this move.

    I was struck by this CBC report that says 25 employees are moving early because these are people who “live in West Prince and East Prince who travel to Charlottetown”. We know there are 120 who are moving, and if only 25 live in Prince County, that means another 95 will now be traveling the other way from Queens and Kings County. There’s a lot of assumptions in there, but a new “commuter class” doesn’t seem like a stretch to me.

    I personally don’t think this makes sense on a number of levels, but for Charlottetown it’s a losing proposition whichever way you look at it. So as a councillor, I think it’s my duty to speak up about it. I don’t expect to have any influence on the issue, but I thinks it’s better than quietly accepting it.

    Thanks for the comments. Good to know someone is reading!!

  4. 4 Ken
    February 21, 2009 at 6:27 pm

    Commuting to work an hour or more is a drain, and I feel bad for the new commuters and the old. What if the 20% of Prince County workers in UPSE across the board – all departments, got off the road by moving 20% of every department to Summerside? A enviromental win, reducing stress, and fair distribution of employment. Of course Montague and other hinterland outposts might like this idea as well.

    The idea of wasted time and money commuting is alone reason to spread the work away from our Capitol city. Communities, not commuting! Government for the people, by the people’s homes.

  5. 5 Councillor Rob Lantz
    February 21, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    I think you’re onto something now. Still a loss for the capital but at least has a goal beyond redistributing jobs in the guise of economic development.

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