So like, federal public servants thought they were heading into the holidays thinking about cookies, travel plans, and maybe one last Outlook auto-reply… but Ottawa was like, surprise! When they come back in the new year, thousands of workers are expected to find out whether their jobs are about to get ghosted as the government rolls out sweeping cuts to shrink the federal public service.
Multiple departments — including Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) — have already warned staff that news about job reductions is coming in January. Translation: enjoy your time off, but also maybe emotionally prepare.
At the centre of all this is the government’s so-called “comprehensive expenditure review,” which is aiming to slash about $60 billion in program and administrative spending over the next five years. The latest federal budget says this will involve “restructuring operations,” “consolidating internal services,” and — everyone’s favourite euphemism — workforce adjustments. Cute wording, stressful vibes.
Ottawa wants to reduce the size of the public service by about 40,000 jobs from its peak of roughly 368,000 workers in 2023–24. About 10,000 positions are already gone, with more to follow. Executives are not safe either: the plan includes cutting 1,000 executive roles over two years and trimming spending on management and consultants by 20 per cent. Finance bro energy, but make it public sector.
IRCC alone expects to eliminate around 300 positions over the next three years — and that’s before executive cuts of roughly 10 to 15 per cent. Half of those jobs are expected to disappear through attrition and non-renewed contracts, with the rest handled through early retirement and workforce adjustment. The department has said affected employees will start hearing more in mid to late January. Yes, January is officially the month of bad emails.
To speed things along, Ottawa has sent letters to nearly 68,000 public servants outlining a proposed early retirement incentive program. The pitch? Retire early without taking the usual pension penalty — which is normally a permanent five per cent hit for every year you leave early. The catch? The program still needs legislation to pass Parliament, and unions are warning workers not to feel pressured into peacing out before they’re financially ready.
Union leaders are already sounding the alarm. Sharon DeSousa, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, says the government still hasn’t been clear about where the cuts will hit hardest — though departments like ESDC, IRCC and the Canada Revenue Agency are widely seen as top targets. Fewer workers, she warns, means longer wait times for passports, employment insurance, child benefits, pensions, and tax returns. So yes, this will affect your life, even if you don’t own a government lanyard.
Economists say what’s been announced so far may only be the beginning. David Macdonald of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives calls the current round of notices “the tip of the iceberg,” noting that deep operational cuts will be hard to pull off without either layoffs or reduced services.
Bottom line? Ottawa says it’s all about sustainability and efficiency. Workers hear instability and stress. And Canadians may soon be hearing, “Your call is important to us,” a lot more often.
XOXO,
Valley Girl News
Where a government restructuring era is very much not the vibe
