Federal unions vow to fight public service cuts as government looks to trim costs

Federal public service unions vowed Wednesday to "fight" planned job cuts, arguing they will undermine services for Canadians.

Tuesday's federal budget outlined a plan to lower program spending and administration costs by about $60 billion over the next five years.

It also says the government intends to have 10 per cent fewer federal employees by 2029 — a loss of about 40,000 jobs from the public service peak of 368,000 two years ago. About 10,000 jobs were eliminated over the past year.

The plan also will see a reduction of 1,000 executive positions over the next two years, as well as a 20 per cent cut to spending on management and consulting services over three years.

Trimming the payroll through attrition remains a goal, the government said, but the budget makes it clear that some positions will be cut.

At a press conference Wednesday, Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Sharon DeSousa said the union will speak to "every MP" and the president of the Treasury Board to stress the impact of cuts.

"Make no mistake, we will fight these cuts and protect constitutional rights of workers across this country," DeSousa said. "(Prime Minister Mark) Carney's government is choosing cuts over care, profit over people, and everyone in Canada will pay the price."

Larry Rousseau, executive vice president of the Canadian Labour Congress, told the press conference the labour movement will fight any attack on public services and workers' rights.

"The budget really reads like austerity, and Canada's unions refuse to let workers pay the price," he said.

"The government wants to cut tens of thousands of public service jobs. This will mean longer EI waits, slower passports, fewer safety inspections, food inspections, delays for seniors and families." 

The government is trying to boost the rate of attrition through early retirements by offering a one-time voluntary program to allow workers to retire up to five years early without incurring a pension penalty.

It intends to offer an early retirement option for people aged 50 or 55 and older, depending on their start date. The option would be available to those with at least 10 years of employment and at least two years of pensionable service.

The program is to begin in January and it's estimated to cost $15 million over two years to administer.

The budget says the government will lose 16,000 full-time equivalent positions though its expenditure review.

Mohammad Kamal, director of communications for the office of the president of the Treasury Board, said those 16,000 jobs will mostly be lost through cuts. He said the government will shed another 14,000 jobs, though it's not clear if that will happen through retirements, cuts or attrition.

"It's too early to tell what is going to be what," Kamal said. "There is interest of folks that want to take their early retirement, there are folks who want to stay in the public service."

Kamal said the plan isn't about cuts but about "making the government more efficient" and refocusing spending.

Nathan Prier, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, told Wednesday's press conference public servants are tired of being "scapegoated" and the budget "fell very short on some fairly crucial details."

"We know they want to cut the public service by 40,000 jobs and they want to cut almost $60 billion in programs to Canadians. And what does that mean exactly? Which programs and services are they sacrificing to make that happen? Who exactly is going to do the work to deliver on the big commitments they just made to Canadians?" Prier said.

The budget did not make clear which departments or programs will see job cuts.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Liberal MP Greg Fergus said the budget's approach to the public service is "tough" but is still "a lot better" than cuts made under former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Fergus represents the riding of Hull — Aylmer in the National Capital Region, where 153,979 public servants lived as of March 2025. 

"This is something we're all looking at and we're making sure that it's going to be done through a very civilized way," he said.

Fergus said he goes door-knocking in his riding regularly and knows that his constituents were concerned about cuts.

"If we're going to be doing big things, we need to make sure that we have the means to do it and the tools to do it, and that requires some adjustments," he said.

"We're going to get back to a size of government that we had before the pandemic."

The Government of Canada website says the federal public service employed 287,983 people in 2019.

The budget says the size of the public service is expected to hit roughly 330,000 by the end of 2028-29.

Canada's top bureaucrat warned the budget's spending reduction target is a "big number" that will mean cuts to programs and jobs in the public service.

In a message sent to federal employees after the budget was tabled, Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Sabia said the plan will lead to reductions in some programs and the cancellation of others.

Sabia said it's inevitable that reduced spending will shrink the size of the public service.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2025.