Civil Servants: We sit around and breathe "each other's exhaust"

March 27, 2008 - Can I say as a civil servant and as part of the Ontario Public Service, I am offended by what our Ontario opposition leader said:

Ontario is already in a recession and needs to look at slashing spending by cutting civil servants who just sit around reading reports and “breathing each other’s exhaust,” Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said today.

“These kinds of jobs are people who are breathing each other’s exhaust and sitting around, analyzing each other’s papers,” Tory said. “There hasn’t been enough attention paid to looking at whether those people are really making a productive contribution to the effective delivery of public services in Ontario.”

I'm sorry - but the last time I checked, civil servants not only serve the public but we also make politicians, such as Mr. Tory, look good, so they could be re-elected and brag about their achievements. If any politician would like to see whether we sit around and breathe each other's exhaust, he/she should come on over and see how we work around Budget time.

It is definitely not smart to piss off civil servants - just like you should not piss off TTC drivers =D