The Conservative Party of Canada is muted on the issue though they are starting to drop hints.The Liberals won’t even talk about it. Legacy media outlets reliant on government largesse won't touch it. Hiding from it won't change it though. Canada is speeding toward insolvency and time is running out to deal with it. Canada’s bloated, inefficient civil service must be cut.Not tuned up. Not examined. No new committee needs to be formed and we can’t afford some cowardly plan of job attrition to let the size of the bureaucracy shrink over time. There must be cuts and they must be deep.Since becoming prime minister, Justin Trudeau has grown the Canadian civil service by 42%. Over 61% of the federal budget is spent on wages and compensation. The wages are high, the holidays are extended, the benefits are huge and the pensions are fantastic. Many of them work from home and unsurprisingly, government services have become slower and more inefficient despite adding staff and pumping the budgets.Simply renewing a passport has turned into an odyssey for people who find themselves mired in an inefficient, time-consuming mire. The immigration department has more than doubled its staff yet it takes over 24 months to process a refugee application. Those trying to pay their taxes diligently struggle to get straight or timely answers from the Canadian Revenue Agency despite the agency employing 59,000 people. For comparison, the American Internal Revenue Service employs 93,000 people to deal with a population eight times the size of Canada.No nation can enjoy general prosperity when sustaining such a large government. The pool of productive people working in value-added industries is shrinking relative to people working in government sectors. Bureaucrats not only cost dollars but add roadblocks to every aspect of private enterprise as they instinctively add regulations on top of licenses on top of inspections. The bureaucracy has become a self-serving monster and it will only be tamed through a strong-willed government with a mandate to cut it down.If the path to freedom and prosperity was through big government, Venezuelans would be living the good life and the Soviet Union would have turned into an economic powerhouse.Canada’s productivity and GDP per capita has been in decline for years. Both will climb if the burden of the government were to be lifted from the shoulders of citizens. Tax cuts can ease the cost of living and encourage investment. Regulation cuts will speed the construction of homes, lower the costs, and spur enterprise in other industries.Canada is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, a skilled workforce, a peaceful environment, and is right next door to the largest consumer market on Earth. The yoke of big government upon citizens is driving the nation down.In the United States, Elon Musk is tasked with heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk proved how useless bureaucracies can be and how bad managerial bloat can get when he laid off 85% of the staff at Twitter and it didn’t adversely impact services. He will be proving it further when he begins cutting the size of the government in the USA and the impact will be quick. Canada is already struggling to be competitive on the world market and with the USA streamlining its government burden, Canadian competitiveness and productivity will suffer. Investment and skilled personnel will be drawn south while a smaller pool tries to feed the ever-hungry Canadian bureaucracy. It’s a recipe for economic disaster no less acute than that threatened with Trump’s tariffs.Just servicing Canada’s national debt now costs as much as the government takes in from GST. The issue in Canada is not a revenue problem. It’s a spending problem and there are few ways worse to spend money than on interest payments for debt.The reasons to cut the size of the government are clear. Are they enough to inspire the next prime minister to do what must be done?It won’t be easy to make the cuts.Unions will go wild and legacy media will flood the airwaves with scenes of single mothers being evicted from homes and pouring onto the streets with broods of hungry children due to having been laid off from a government position.The prime minister must remain strong.Canada’s bloated government costs far more jobs in the private sector and lowers the standard of living more than any round of public sector layoffs could do.What’s the role of a government job anyway? Is it not to provide a service? If the only service is in providing employment for a government employee, it is a work for welfare program. It would be cheaper to just pay the person to stay at home. In fact, that is what is happening with many civil servants anyway.With the shackles of taxes and regulations removed, Canada would experience an employment boom as investment enters the country, wages climb and new enterprises open. Canada could finally reverse the decline in GDP per capita as private industry growth overtakes government growth.The opportunity to make heavy cuts doesn’t come often. In the early 1990s, it was spurred by double digit interest rates. Currently, it is because our neighbour and largest trading partner is poised to make cuts. Hesitation will lead to delays and Canada will remain an investment pariah with a declining standard of living. Canada’s next prime minister must strike fast and without apology to bring the government down to side. We need voices to encourage and support him or her to ensure they remain on the right course.
