Canada’s central federal agency spent millions on outside consultants last year despite employing hundreds of staff tasked with doing similar work, according to newly released records.The Privy Council Office spent $5.8 million on communications, marketing, financial and strategy consultants in 2025, even as it maintained roughly 320 employees in comparable roles, figures obtained through access-to-information requests show.The spending drew criticism from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which questioned why taxpayers are paying twice for similar services.“The PCO already has hundreds of communications and research bureaucrats and then it spends millions getting consultants and contractors to do their homework,” said Franco Terrazzano, the federation’s federal director. “It doesn’t make sense for taxpayers to pay bureaucrats to do a job and then pay consultants to do the same job.”The Privy Council Office, which supports the prime minister and cabinet, reported total spending of $17.4 million on professional services in 2025. That included contracts ranging from communications consulting to more unusual expenses such as a yoga instructor, a “productivity ninja,” and specialty items like coins and swords.Records show the department spent about $40 million annually on internal staff performing similar functions, including $8.5 million on communications employees, $526,000 on marketing staff and $28 million on research and analysis roles.Despite maintaining in-house multimedia capacity costing nearly $1 million per year, the department also spent $641,400 on audiovisual consulting services..Additional expenditures included $4.8 million for advertising services tied to Canada’s trade agreements, along with smaller contracts such as $35,775 to a consulting firm promoting diversity initiatives and $497,500 to a marketing company focused on solving “complex problems.”Other spending listed in the records includes $386,700 on furniture, $136,290 at a Toronto hotel, $20,400 on limousine services and $2,500 for professional caregivers.The department also paid $12,900 for a “Hatha Slow Flow Yoga” instructor located nearly two hours from Ottawa, a cost critics say could have funded hundreds of local or online sessions at a fraction of the price.“Why is the PCO spending thousands of dollars on yoga lessons?” Terrazzano said. “Spending $1,300 on a ‘productivity ninja’ didn’t make Ottawa more productive.”The findings come as Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to reduce reliance on outside consultants..Spending on professional and special services by the Privy Council Office has risen sharply over the past decade, climbing from $9.6 million in 2015-16 to $36 million in 2024-25, according to public accounts data.Across the federal government, spending in the same category has more than doubled over that period, with projections showing it will reach $26.6 billion in 2026-27.At the same time, the cost of the federal bureaucracy has also grown significantly, increasing by 80% between 2015 and 2024, with further increases planned this year.
