Federal departments and agencies are already developing plans to eliminate 12,000 FTE. This plan goes hand in hand with the colossal budget reprogramming plan to achieve the government’s austere deficit reduction objectives for 2026-27. This has critics and former officials up in arms about this decision. Third, they emphasize the confusion surrounding what exact programs and services would be affected by the proposed cuts.
Members of Parliament, including Stephane Kusie raised her concerns on the vagueness found in the departmental reports. She highlighted the fact that many of these reports were missing the necessary info. They indicated very little about where cuts will be made. Kusie stated, “They’ve updated the (full-time equivalent) numbers, but it’s not clear as to line by line how they’re going to achieve this within each department.”
The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, represented by spokesperson Rola Salem, indicated that departments were instructed to include comprehensive details in their reports. These information will detail the expected savings per fiscal year through 2028–29. They will need to detail how these savings will be realized and identify the number of jobs to be eliminated.
As is often reported, even with these expectations from the Treasury Board, people are finding that the data still falls short. Looking ahead Ms Salem said she was expecting a deeper level of insight and a more defined direction for execution.
Michael Wernick, former clerk of the Privy Council, offered insights on what went wrong. He said the plans released “lay the foundation” for any future parliamentary review to consider. He admitted that opposition parties would be eager to comb through these proposals to find cuts or add-ons. Wernick remarked, “The game to be played this year is the opposition will be trying to suss out details on what’s being cut, or in some cases augmented, looking for nuggets that they can go after and criticize.”
The climate adaptation and mitigation plans released so far by federal departments show massive job creation and loss across key sectors. Public Services and Procurement Canada will lose 1,793 positions. At the same time, Statistics Canada will be cutting 900 positions, and Health Canada will cut 942 jobs. These cuts help further the overall goal of saving billions of dollars.
David McLaughlin, past president and CEO of the Institute on Governance, made a key observation. As wide ranging as the plans are, he explained, they mostly leave out specific details about what’s to come. He stated, “You can’t tell … at this moment, at this stage, what will be the actual impact of that in terms of a service on the ground to certain people, certain demographics or in certain regions.”
The government has provided departments a number of months from the budget’s announcement to implement these changes. Critics say the reports are getting less detailed and they’re more frustrated than ever with the lack of specificity. Kusie highlighted that there remains “no clear road map for the departments,” which complicates their ability to implement necessary adjustments effectively.
Sharon DeSousa, a representative from the union who organized the demonstration, said the loss of these jobs could affect public services. She stated, “By eliminating thousands of jobs, the government is weakening the very programs people in Canada rely on.”
