Federal departments and agencies are looking to cut more than 12,000 full-time equivalent jobs over the next three years as part of the Carney government's spending review.
That figure comes from plans released by federal departments and agencies for 2026-27 outlining how they'll shed billions of dollars to meet the government's cost-cutting targets. Multiple part-time positions can make up one full-time equivalent position.
Rola Salem, spokesperson for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, said departments were asked to include in their reports details about the savings for each fiscal year until 2028-29. That included a description of how the savings would be achieved, the number of reductions in full-time equivalent positions and any measures that weren't included in the last budget.
Among the expected job losses are 1,793 positions at Public Services and Procurement Canada, 900 jobs at Statistics Canada and 942 at Health Canada.
While the plans were supposed to offer clarity on how programs will be affected by the spending review, some departments offered only vague commitments to "streamline" services or "modernize" operations. Others said they were still figuring out where to find savings.
Several departments and agencies offered more concrete details of their plans.
They include the Canadian Space Agency, which said it plans to terminate work on the LEAP Lunar Rover Mission.
The Canada Revenue Agency said it plans to wind down business units that are no longer connected to government priorities, like the units that processed the Digital Services Tax and consumer carbon pricing.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it's reducing "non-core research activities" and consolidating laboratory services to focus on essential testing and avoid the need for costly upgrades.
It says it's also decommissioning some vehicle washing stations and winding down functions that are no longer required to address health risks linked to the trade in pets.
Environment and Climate Change Canada says it's reducing the Low Carbon Economy Fund and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says it's winding down some programs outside of its core mandate, like the Agricultural Climate Solution Living Labs program.
The plan for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces says the military will retire selected fleets that are nearing the end of their service lives, face rising sustainment costs or are no longer align with operational requirements. It says it will also sell off or lease "underutilized, obsolete or surplus" properties.
Library and Archives Canada says it's gradually reducing Access to Information and Privacy functions and the proactive review of historical records functions over a three-year period. It's also discontinuing funding for the Documentary Heritage Communities Program.
Public Services and Procurement Canada says it's winding down the activities of the Canada General Standards Board and reducing funding for Laboratories Canada.
Several departments — including Shared Services Canada, the Department of Justice, Public Services and Procurement Canada and Public Safety Canada — outlined plans to use artificial intelligence to increase efficiency or improve service delivery.
David McLaughlin, former president and CEO of the Institute on Governance, said the plans offer "broad strokes" of the impacts of the spending review. He said while the documents offer "some transparency" about the review, more details are needed.
He said those details will come either from a separate document from the Department of Finance or Treasury Board or from questioning by opposition parties.
"You can't tell … at this moment, at this stage, what will be the actual impact of that in terms of a service on the ground to certain people, certain demographics or in certain regions," said McLaughlin. "It's going to have to come through the detailed committee hearings."
Appearing before the House committee on government operations this month, Secretary of the Treasury Board Bill Matthews said departments and agencies were told to target programs and activities that were underperforming, overlapped with other programs or were not aligned with government priorities.
Michael Wernick, former clerk of the Privy Council, said the departmental plans "set the table" for parliamentary review.
He said members of Parliament will be trying to "squeeze out more detail" during committee meetings.
"The game to be played this year is the opposition will be trying to suss out details on what's being cut, or in some cases augmented, looking for nuggets that they can go after and criticize," Wernick said.
Conservative MP and Treasury Board critic Stephanie Kusie said the documents offer "no clear road map for the departments."
"They've updated the (full-time equivalent) numbers, but it's not clear as to line by line how they're going to achieve this within each department," she said. "Even though there is a decrease in the full-time equivalents, we're still seeing an increase in spending."
Kusie said it's "concerning" that some departmental reports lack details about which programs and services will be affected by cuts. She said she expected more detailed information and a clearer path, given that departments have had months since the release of the budget.
"It makes me wonder, do they know what they're doing or are they not quite certain as of yet?" she said. "I'm worried about it for transparency."
"I definitely think after reviewing these plans that it merits more specific questions to departments."
Federal unions are sounding the alarm over the planned job cuts. Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Sharon DeSousa said the cuts aren't about efficiency but are an "attack on the public service itself."
"By eliminating thousands of jobs, the government is weakening the very programs people in Canada rely on," she said.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
