Government records show the federal government spent more than $19 billion on external professional and special services in 2024-25 — an increase of almost $2 billion from the previous year and almost $8.5 billion since 2020.
The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat says the increase in spending on professional and special services is largely due to higher spending on engineering and architectural services for things like shipbuilding, health services to support refugee claimants, and specialized air force pilot and aircrew personnel training.
Government records show the government spent $23.1 billion on professional and special services during the fiscal year which ended on March 31, with around $19.5 billion of that sum going to external organizations.
That figure includes $6.9 billion from the Department of National Defence for internal and external professional and special services in 2024-25, while Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spent $1.7 billion.
The Liberals have been criticized for years over how much they spend on outside consulting. A lot of that criticism has come from public service unions who say the work should be done by government employees.
In his 2015 election platform, former prime minister Justin Trudeau promised to reduce the government's use of external consultants.
Between 2015-16 and 2024-25, however, government spending on external services increased from around $8.3 billion to around $19.5 billion.
The Liberal government was criticized over the cost of the ArriveCan app project, launched in April 2020 as a means to track health and contact information for people entering Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Auditor General Karen Hogan reported last year that poor record-keeping and reliance on outside contractors allowed the cost of the ArriveCAN project to balloon to almost $60 million. The first ArriveCAN contract was valued initially at just $2.35 million.
The government's public accounts show it spent $11 billion on external professional and special services in 2019-20.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada said in 2023, it negotiated language in contracts to protect public service jobs and reduce outside contracting. It also said the government had committed to a consultation process on the issues associated with contracting out in the federal public service.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was sworn in as prime minister in March, promised during the spring election campaign to cut government spending by, among other things, "significantly reducing reliance on external consultants, while improving the capacity of the public service to hire expertise in-house."
In its budget, released earlier this month, the federal government pledged to reduce expenses on management and other consulting services by 20 per cent in three years’ time "in order to reduce wasteful spending and empower the public service to take on more responsibility and accountability."
As the Public Service Alliance of Canada is again negotiating contracts for thousands of its members. It says it's still fighting to prevent outside contracting of government services "when members can do the work."
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini
