"The closure of these 20 offices and layoff of a number employees will hurt some of the poorest people in this province and it is also a lessening of the government presence in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. What I find amazing is that the Minister in making this announcement tried to convince people that it was good news," said Butler.

"Earlier I expressed concerns about the lack of planning and consultation that had been done before the closure of these 20 offices. During the budget estimates process the Minister confirmed my initial fears. It is clear now, despite the announcement of layoffs and the office closures, there has been no real analysis done to determine if this will actually save money. There is no real evidence that these drastic cuts will in the end result in the kind of savings they want. Will there be increased costs related to clients traveling to the offices? Will people be in the system longer because they don’t have access to employment and career services? Will people have trouble accessing services? Will more severe problems develop because of the cutbacks? These are all unanswered questions."

The Liberal MHA says the only way these cuts can be stopped now is if the PC members start asking some questions and stand up against these cuts. "PC members like Kathy Goudie, Jim Hodder, Trevor Taylor, Wally Young, Harry Harding, Tom Hedderson, Fabian Manning and Terry French should state their position on these cuts. They should either say they are in favour of it and explain why they support it or speak out against it. They have a responsibility in standing up for the their districts."

The Liberal Critic has pointed out that there were already many problems existing in the system before these cuts and these office closures will make a bad situation even worse.