The federal Liberal government’s decision to close an immigration case processing centre in Vegreville has been in the news for a while, but last week, that decision came under double fire with charges that rather than saving money, as the government has claimed, it will actually cost $10.8 million more to move the service to Edmonton than it would to upgrade the existing facility in Vegreville.
Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs, a fierce critic of the move that affects her riding, shared a report from Global News which obtained an internal costing analysis done by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. The report suggests Ottawa will spend $46.6 million on renovations and leasing to create a processing facility in Edmonton’s Canada Place, compared to $35.8 million to upgrade the existing Vegreville facility, to expand the facility and employ 312 people, stated the news agency.
While Vegreville staff will have the option to move to Edmonton, this decision to close down a major employer of the town and move 280 jobs is a huge hit to a small community that is roughly the size of St. Paul. Furthermore, Stubbs notes, is the fact that this case processing centre has exceeded targets in its last performance report – is this the lesson to government employees, that exemplary service is to be rewarded with the choice of being forced to relocate or losing your job?
This federal government decision should concern not just the citizens of Vegreville, but all rural Albertans who want to protect jobs and communities in the rural regions that, historically, have powered and fed the province with its oil and gas and agriculture industries.
It’s certainly one thing if private enterprises are deciding to locate in the city, catering to larger markets and more people. But federal and provincial governments, and public services, are not constrained in their location by the need to make money – their responsibility is to taxpayers to protect the public purse and to support communities, both urban and rural. This decision does neither, and is such, it needs to keep being fought until more rational heads prevail.
