Federal public service shrinks for 1st time in a decade

Gabrielle Huston · CBC News

· Posted: May 23, 2025 11:05 AM EDT | Last Updated: 27 minutes ago

The national nationalist work has shrunk for the archetypal clip since 2015, after shedding astir 10,000 jobs implicit the past year, according to caller information released by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS).

Of the 9,807 jobs chopped betwixt 2024 and 2025, a significant majority — 7,051, oregon 72 per cent — were successful national agencies specified arsenic Parks Canada, the National Capital Commission and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The remainder — 2,756 oregon 28 per cent — were successful the halfway nationalist administration.

In March 2024, 367,772 national nationalist servants were employed betwixt the agencies and the administration. One twelvemonth later, that fig had dropped to 357,965, a 2.6 per cent alteration successful the wide workforce.

This information does not see members of the RCMP, the Canadian Armed Forces oregon a fewer different employers. 

The past clip the national nationalist work shrank was a decennary ago. There were 262,817 nationalist servants successful 2013, which dropped to 257,138 successful 2014, and again to 257,034 successful 2015. The fig had been rising steadily until now. 

CBC has reached retired to TBS to inquire however galore of the jobs mislaid were successful Ottawa and Gatineau, but has not received that information.

CRA astir affected

In November, the Treasury Board updated nationalist work unions astir however it was instructing departments to trim spending to conscionable savings targets of $15 billion over 4 years, and the unions warned occupation cuts were coming. 

The cuts were not dispersed evenly crossed the departments and agencies: Most of the caller cuts took spot astatine CRA wherever 6,656 jobs were lost, leaving the taxation bureau with 52,499 employees.

CRA has announced rounds of layoffs implicit the past year, with much coming conscionable this week.

"These successive cuts deed our members hard, but they besides greatly interaction the Canadian colonisation and businesses," said Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) nationalist president Marc Brière in a connection Friday.

"With each presumption eliminated, processing delays turn longer, calls spell unanswered, files heap up, and citizens are near down successful uncertainty. [CRA staff] who stay are being pushed beyond their limits."

Among the halfway departments, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada besides took a large hit, losing 1,944 employees and leaving it with 11,148 workers. 

A fistful of departments and agencies saw maturation successful their workforces implicit past year, including Natural Resources Canada, which gained 293 employees, National Defence (381 employees), Global Affairs Canada (218 employees) and the Communications Security Establishment (196 employees).

During the caller national predetermination campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre some vowed to halt wasteful spending in the national nationalist service.

Poilievre said a Conservative authorities would trim some the size of the nationalist work and its usage of contractors. Carney said his authorities would headdress the nationalist service and stress the usage of artificial quality (AI).

The Liberal authorities has not released a fund since being elected. Carney has said it volition bash truthful successful the fall.