06) WHISTLE-BLOWER OF THE MONTH

People's Voice Editorial

            If there were any justice, Sylvie Therrien would be receiving a medal for service above and beyond the call of duty. Instead, she has been suspended without pay, after leaking documents showing that federal investigators cut people off from employment insurance benefits in order to meet quotas.

            Therrien's documents show that she and other investigators were ordered to find $485,000 in "savings" each year by denying EI claims. After first denying that any such quotas existed, the Harper Conservatives launched a witch-hunt to find out who spilled the beans. Under interrogation, Therrien admitted that she was the source of the leak.

            "I knew my job was in peril. I knew that, but I couldn't continue. I couldn't sleep," Therrien said. "I was thinking just about those people... I was going to send them and their children into the street... and now here I am on the street."

            The case may well end up in court, but it proves that pro-corporate governments will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to force workers to accept the lowest possible wages.

            The documents show that Service Canada investigators were instructed to examine 1,200 EI recipients, by checking addresses, bank accounts, medical documents, and physical appearances, even knocking on the door of claimant's homes to ask for an interview on the spot. These investigations are not based on evidence of wrong-doing or cheating, they are simply random checks of recipients who have paid into the EI program while working.

            At the same time, the Harper Tories (like the Liberals before them) have slashed the number of Canada Revenue Agency auditors responsible for tracking down corporate tax evasion such as offshore havens. That should tell you everything you need to know about Stephen Harper, prime minister of a government dedicated to making the rich richer, and the poor poorer.

(The above article is from the August 1-31, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)