Don't 'hatchet' public sector jobs, warns NDP leader

Deep cuts to the Newfoundland and Labrador public sector could do more harm than good, warns the provincial New Democratic Party.

"To go at it with a hatchet and say we are going to start chopping jobs all over the place, you could make a bad situation worse," NDP leaderEarleMcCurdysaid on Tuesday.

• Deepening financial crisis means once-forbidden options on table: Cathy Bennett

During the 2015 election campaign, Liberals said there would be no job cuts to balance the books.

But months after the party waselected, Premier Dwight Ball and Finance Minister Cathy Bennett said all options wereon the table.

To go at it with a hatchet ... you could make a bad situation worse.- Earle McCurdy

Public sector contracts expired last year but so far the governments and the unions haven't traded bargaining positions.

"A large number of public sector cuts could really slow down the economy," McCurdy told the St John`s Morning Show, saying it could also lead to layoffs in the private sector.

Spending chill

McCurdy argued that even the threat of job cuts has likely put achill on public sector employees' spending, and that has had a ripple effect.

"We got a bit of that because of the ham-handed way the Liberals went at it," saidMcCurdy.

• Budget backlash: Our audience's choice for the top news story of 2016

"They said in the [April]budget that there would be a supplemental budget in the fall which will include spending cuts. The finance ministersignaled there would be lay offs. There wasdampening effect on the economy and when push came to shove they didn't do anything in the fall."

Prioritizeservices

McCurdy is calling on the government to think hard about the impact cuts might have on the people of the province.

"The considerations here really should be driven by 'what's the impact on services to the public?' And if you simply go intocuts and that means the people can't get basic services then that's a problem," said McCurdy.

"If they can't get the health care they need because of cuts then that's a real problem."