Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said Canadian government employees answer to seven levels of management, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “There is certainly room for ‘delayering’ as some would call it,” said Giroux in a speech to the House of Commons Government Operations Committee.“Yes, there is room to reduce some levels of executives in the public service.”Giroux estimated in a February 22 report payroll costs were at $67.4 billion last year — a 68% increase from the year before. The report counted 428,000 Canadian government employees. Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie (Calgary-Midnapore, AB) asked if he felt all departments should begin looking at streamlining management and services to be more efficient and save money. When it comes to management in the Canadian public service, he said some MPs might know about there being five levels in the executive class group. “It is not uncommon for departments to have five levels of executives and associate deputy ministers or more and one deputy minister,” he said. “It leads to a situation where an employee can have seven levels of management above them.”When it comes to the spending from the Canadian government, Conservative MP Kelly Block (Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek, SK) asked what concerns him most. He acknowledged what concerns him most “is the disconnect between the increased levels of spending, which is a policy choice, and the performance indicators that don’t seem to be markedly improved.”Over time, Giroux said he was “seeing an increase in the number of public servants, in public expenditures, but year after year, despite the fact departments choose their performance indicators and the targets, they don’t seem to be getting significantly better.” “That is what worries me with the increased level of spending,” he said. Conservative MP Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan, AB) said figures suggested money could be cut from the budget without affecting services. “We hear this narrative from the Liberals that any cut, any reduction in spending, is going to impact service delivery,” said Genuis. “But this clearly shows there is waste within government.”The premium wages and generous benefits Canadian public servants enjoy compared to the private sector is one area where governments could look to reduce costs following the recession, according an April study conducted by the Fraser Institute. READ MORE: Study finds Canadian government workers receive higher wages than private sector“At a time when governments across Canada are facing serious fiscal pressures as a result of the recession, bringing government sector compensation in line with the private sector would help reduce costs without necessarily affecting services,” said Fraser Institute senior fellow Ben Eisen. The Fraser Institute said government employees across Canada were paid 31.3% higher wages on average than private sector workers in 2021.
