Federal budget cuts slash N.S. jobs
Posted Apr 5, 2012 06:37:39 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Cutbacks announced in the federal budget have already translated to job losses in Nova Scotia.
Last week Federal Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty tabled the 2012-13 budget, which included massive cuts to government departments across the country.
At least 62 Department of Defence workers in Nova Scotia received notices Wednesday that their jobs would likely be eliminated. Eleven of those cuts will come from the Halifax dockyards.
The Herald reports the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) is also planning major cuts to its workforce, with 65 jobs on the chopping block.
Sixteen positions will be eliminated in Nova Scotia.
Millions of dollars are being slashed from ACOA’s budget, with $2.1 million in cuts expected this year, $11.7 million next year, and a $4.1 million reduction in 2014-15. In total, the cuts represent a 20 per cent reduction over the next three years.
The CBC will have its budget cut by 10 per cent over the next three years, which will mean 650 job losses.
In Halifax, the CBC has responded by abandoning plans to move staff in the Sackville Road building to its Bell Road building.
Andrew Cochrane, Managing Director for the Maritimes tells News 95.7.
“We’re going to look to move into leased premises elsewhere on the peninsula and then we’ll look to sell both buildings,” he said.
Part of that change will include a cut to the CBC’s television service. Cochrane says daily news and current affairs programs will be maintained, but the local network TV production capacity will be cut.
That will affect 13 full-time employees.
“So two years from now, we will no longer need those positions,” Cochran said. “That does not mean 13 people have to walk out the door. What it means is that over the next two years we will be looking to try to find reassignments or vacancies.”
In total, 19,200 government job cuts were outlined in last week’s federal budget announcement.
