Ottawa is quietly planning to eliminate roughly 40,000 federal jobs by the end of the decade, according to internal Treasury Board briefing notes that outline a major rollback of the public service following years of rapid growth.Blacklock's Reporter says a December 10 note prepared for the Treasury Board set a target of cutting the federal workforce to about 330,000 employees by March 2029, down from an estimated 367,772 positions in 2024. The document states the government’s goal is to reduce the public service by approximately 40,000 jobs over the next four years.The plan includes a targeted reduction of 16,000 full-time equivalents, or 4.5% of the workforce, largely through attrition and voluntary departures. The briefing note, Size Of The Public Service, does not reference Prime Minister Mark Carney’s November 14 comments to the Montréal Chamber of Commerce that the government would cut the public service by 10%.Another Treasury Board briefing dated December 10, Early Retirement Incentive Program, similarly describes efforts to return the public service to what officials call a “more sustainable” level of roughly 330,000 employees. Federal payrolls expanded dramatically between 2015 and 2024, rising from 257,034 to 367,772 employees, an increase of 110,738 or 43%..The Parliamentary Budget Office has already identified early cuts in select departments, including corrections and fisheries, amounting to 4.7% of payroll in areas reviewed to date. In a January 8 report, the Budget Office warned there was little transparency about how staffing reductions would affect specific programs or service levels.“There is a lack of detail regarding the impact on individual programs within each organization,” the report said, adding it remains unclear whether the government plans to publish comprehensive information on job losses or track progress publicly.Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali has refused to confirm layoff numbers, citing the human impact of the cuts. Appearing before the Commons government operations committee on November 27, Ali said it would be unfair to disclose details before informing affected employees.“We are dealing with public service employees’ livelihoods,” he said. “This is a real issue that impacts those public service employees and not only them, their families.”
