Like many of you, on Thanksgiving Day, I read an article that told how Mark Eyking and Rodger Cuzner would be in New Waterford the next day to make a federal jobs announcement. While I fully admit to not being the biggest fan of either of them, I was cautiously optimistic. Federal government jobs in New Waterford certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing, and it was about time these guys delivered something of value to Cape Bretoners. I wondered which department these jobs would be connected to. I knew we already had federal jobs connected to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, the Canada Revenue Agency, Veterans Affairs, and Service Canada. Surely it wouldn’t be additional jobs in any of those departments. I also wondered how many jobs there would be. With an unemployment rate as high as ours (14.5 %), the more jobs, the better.

When the announcement finally came on Tuesday, however, I couldn’t help but be disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, these are good paying jobs with benefits, which Mark Eyking was quick to remind us of. There are also 44 of them, which is more than I had expected. Still, there were a few reasons why I was disappointed.

The new jobs in New Waterford are payroll support jobs for the troubled Phoenix pay system. If you are unaware, the federal government implemented the Phoenix system in early 2016 despite warnings from workers that it was unreliable. Since that time, there have been over 200,000 cases of federal employees being paid improperly or not receiving the benefits they are entitled to. The pay system has been such a disaster that the federal government announced earlier this year that it will be scrapping the program in favour of a better system.

Remembering that announcement, I immediately questioned how long these jobs will remain in New Waterford. If the system they are supporting is being scrapped, then what happens to the jobs once Phoenix is gone? Poring through the announcement, I saw that these jobs were good for a two-year term. While I was happy that these workers will be secure for two years, I was also a little angry that Phoenix is going to continue for that much longer. Why are the feds pouring millions of dollars into a system that they know doesn’t work and that they believe can’t be fixed? While it is great to have 44 more people employed in Cape Breton, it’s not so great to have tens of thousands of workers here and elsewhere across the country dealing with issues of being paid too little or not being at all in some cases.

That two-year term also got me thinking about something else. We have an election coming up in 2019. These jobs will be good until 2020. Call me a cynic, but what are the chances that these jobs are just part of a money drop leading up to the election and will disappear soon afterwards? Are the jobs simply a ploy to keep Mark and Rodger in their seats in the House? Not that either of them have much to worry about anyway; as if Cape Bretoners would consider electing anybody other than a Liberal despite the fact that that they have done virtually nothing for us. Our unemployment rate has remained virtually unchanged during the past 18 years and our population has been in a steady decline. But Cape Bretoners will continue to vote Liberal because that’s what they do. So maybe these jobs are more like a scrap thrown under the table by Justin Trudeau to the dogs who are loyal but who will never get to sit at the table.

The other things about the jobs announcement that slightly troubled me was that the jobs were never posted publicly. They were filled in consultation with CBU, NSCC, and CBBC. Don’t get me wrong, I think that it’s great that these college and university graduates will have work in the local area for the next two years. I have to ask, though, what about all those other people who have been looking for work? Shouldn’t they have at least had the opportunity to apply? Eyking and Cuzner are selling this as 44 new jobs for New Waterford. The reality is that few, if any, of the workers will be from New Waterford. Should they choose to buy lunch there or gas up their cars there, then they will be making a small contribution to the community’s economy. Otherwise, these jobs might just as well be located somewhere else.

Far be it from me to look a gift horse in the mouth; these jobs are certainly welcome. But we would do well to see them for what they are, namely short-term employment for 44 college graduates, a small boost for New Waterford’s economy, and most importantly a bribe or a reward (depending on how you choose to look at it).