Finance Minister Colin Hansen has said he doesn't know exactly how many bureaucrats will be getting pink slips in the coming fiscal years.
But what we do know is that, in the past six months, the government has supersized its plans to downsize the civil service.
According to budget documents released Tuesday, the number of full-time equivalent positions in government is projected to have decreased 3,373 to 28,501 between 2008/09 and 2011/12.
When pressed about how much of that reduction will be layoffs, the finance minister said, "I don't think you can put a precise number on it" because some of it will happen as a result of natural attrition.
Nevertheless, the shakeup will be more violent than expected.
In September, it was projected the number of positions in government would decrease by just 1,083 over the same time period.
No news is good news!
The attorney general's ministry has killed an annual survey that, last year, showed British Columbians have an embarrassingly low opinion of the justice system.
According to that survey, in fiscal 2008/09, just 44 percent expressed a "great deal or quite a lot" of confidence in that system. And, when asked about the criminal courts, only:
* 11 percent thought they did a good job of providing justice quickly;
* 13 percent thought they did a good job of helping the victim;
* 26 percent thought they did a good job of determining whether or not the accused is guilty; and
* 49 percent thought they did a good job of ensuring a fair trial for the accused;
The government has been using those measures as "key indicator" of the justice system's effectiveness. But, as a result of belt-tightening, the ministry killed the $15,000 opinion poll.
That means it won't find out what British Columbians think about the justice system until 2013, when the federal government releases the results of similar countrywide survey that's conducted every five years.
Late for a very important date
The Campbell administration made its "new" integrated case management system a point of pride during its most recent throne speech.
But, according to budget documents released Tuesday, the Liberals might have been better advised to keep it locked in the basement.
The reason: just six months ago, the government was forecasting that system - which has been in the works since 2006 and will allow the ministries of children and social development to share case files - would be completed by Spring 2012.
But that date has now been moved up more than two years to Fall 2014, with the government its total cost at $182 million.
As first reported by the Times Colonist's Rob Shaw, that puts the project more than $70 million over-budget.
Crash and burn
In its recent throne speech, the provincial government promised to introduce "significant changes" that will "reduce impaired and dangerous driving."
But it looks like the government isn't expecting that initiative to have much of an impact.
According to the ministry of public safety and solicitor general's service plan, the government is targeting a 3 percent reduction in the number of traffic fatalities and injuries in the coming fiscal years.
But that's exactly the same target the government had in September - five months before its throne speech announcement. Fancy that!
Sean Holman is editor of the online provincial political news journal Public Eye (publiceyeonline.com). He can be reached at [email protected].
