The federal public service will lose 40,000 full-time equivalent jobs by the 2028-2029 fiscal year according to the first federal budget from Mark Carney’s government tabled on Tuesday. This marks a 10 per cent reduction in the public service workforce since its peak in 2023-2025.
The announcement was quickly met with disappointment from public service unions who say the move will only worsen quality of the vital supports Canadians rely on.
Sharon DeSousa, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) which is Canada’s largest union for federal public servants, said these planned cuts will weaken services that people rely on.
“People can expect longer wait times for passports, EI and child care benefits, more unanswered calls at Canada Revenue Agency, reduced public health and food safety efforts, and a government that isn’t there for ordinary people when they need it most,” DeSousa said.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) criticized the government for giving money to private interests, while cutting from the public good.
“This budget will put 40,000 public servants out of work over the next four years. They let key funding expire, leaving care workers overworked and underpaid. They’ve left major gaps in EI, health care funding, child care, and long term care unfilled – but found the time to give wealthy people a tax break on private jets and empty rental properties,” reads a statement from CUPE.
Polling done by Abacus Data ahead of the budget showed 43 per cent of Canadians wanted gradual change, not drastic measures, to address the government’s budget deficit. Meanwhile, only 23 per cent see the deficit as an urgent crisis needing more decisive action. Abacus concludes that the appetite for austerity is low.
Polling done for PSAC by Crestview Strategy in September showed that more Canadians opposed the mass layoff of tens of thousands of workers. About 51 per cent of survey respondents were against mass layoffs and 45 per cent expressed concern about the government’s planned spending cuts to most federal departments.
“The takeaway here is clear: the vast majority of people trust and support public service workers,” said DeSousa. “They see the value of what our members do every day, and they don’t want the government to make services worse by cutting corners or public service jobs.”
Another public service union, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), has also expressed disdain for the planned cuts.
“Behind every cut is a service delay, a slower emergency response, or a system that’s one failure away from crisis,” said Sean O’Reilly, President of PIPSC. “These cuts don’t make us leaner — they make us more fragile.”
The union pointed towards the fact that the government record amounts to outsource work to private consultants. This year, the government is projected to spend $26 billion on outsourcing.
“It’s not efficient to replace experienced public servants with expensive consultants who cost 25% more than a public service professional,” said O’Reilly. “If the goal is savings, start with the billions going to private firms — not the food safety inspector or public health scientist.”
The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), which represents three million unionized and non-unionized workers in many different sectors in Canada, has called on the Liberal government to work with other parties and amend the budget.
“With no majority in Parliament, this budget is not a done deal—and Canadians don’t need an election,” said CLC president Bea Bruske, “…This is the moment for Parliament to stand up for working people.”
In an interview with rabble.ca CLC vice-president Siobhan Vipond said the cuts to the public service come after workers have shouldered multiple hardships including the COVID-19 pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis and import tariffs on Canadian goods imposed by Donald Trump.
She highlighted that public service cuts will not only have the immediate effect of job losses, but will also mean Canadians will no longer feel supported by the public services.
“Personally, when I go to the grocery store, I trust that there has been a federal inspector to ensure that everything I’m eating is safe,” Vipond said. “I want people, when they phone in and have questions about services in Canada, to know they can actually talk to someone. But if [the federal government] keeps with huge cuts like this, it’s going to be coming out of programs, research, and what matters to us. It’s not setting us up in the long haul.”
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