(Ottawa) The Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois denounce the government’s lack of control over the continued increase in the number of federal civil servants and the use of consultants. The Press reported Thursday that nearly 110,000 employees had been added to the workforce of departments and agencies since 2015, an increase of 42%. The matter arose during question period, where the government argued that it had increased the basket of services.
“It doesn’t make sense,” exclaimed the Conservative political lieutenant for Quebec, Pierre Paul-Hus, in an interview.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus
“If you hire more people to do files, you don’t need anyone outside for 21 billion per year. At some point, it’s not consistent,” he added.
Read the article “Federal public service: 109,000 more civil servants under Trudeau”
The coming to power of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in 2015 coincided with an increase in the number of civil servants after cuts by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. The number of civil servants increased from almost 259,000 the following year to around 357,000 in 2023. And the size of government has grown further over the past year, reaching some 368,000 employees as of March 31, 2024, according to the latest federal budget document.
At the same time, the use of consultants has also increased continuously under the Liberals. Professional and special services reached “a record level of 21.6 billion” for the 2023-2024 financial year, underlines the Parliamentary Budget Officer in one of his reports.
“The number of civil servants is increasing, the quality of services is decreasing,” observed Bloc Québécois finance spokesperson Gabriel Ste-Marie. We can think of immigration cases. In our offices [circonscription], we are all overwhelmed by this. »
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Bloc MP Gabriel Ste-Marie
The two MPs pressed the government on this subject during question period. The Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Steven MacKinnon, defended the increase in the number of civil servants. “Certainly the government has taken care of things. He took care of help for our seniors, help with daycares, dental care and school nutrition,” he recalled.
It takes manpower to do that, the same manpower that the Conservatives intend to destroy, compress and lay off.
Steven MacKinnon. government leader in the House of Commons
The Conservative Party of Canada does not hide that if it takes power, it will ax contracts awarded to consultants, but it remains cautious about possible cuts to the public service, without however completely ruling them out.
“In any ministry, we will have to get an image of what is happening because we consider that there is a loss of control throughout the government,” explained Mr. Paul-Hus. We’ll have to see what happens, and for now, we’re tackling everything that involves external consultants. We say to ourselves: Look. If there are people, let’s do it internally. »
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) fears that the ax will fall if the Conservatives form the next government, even if they are currently courting unions. “We fear a majority Pierre Poilievre,” admits the regional executive vice-president for Quebec of the PSAC, Yvon Barrière.
He recalls that under Stephen Harper, the Conservatives had abolished 26,000 positions. In particular, they eliminated nine offices that offered services to veterans.
The New Democratic Party (NDP) points to both the Liberals and the Conservatives. “What we need to do is reduce the dependence on subcontractors who are expensive and who don’t do the work, a dependence created by the Liberals and the Conservatives before them. It is a waste of public money and it reduces the quality of service for the population,” commented in writing its deputy head, Alexandre Boulerice.
The Bloc Québécois, for its part, argues that the “continuous interference” of Justin Trudeau’s government in provincial areas of jurisdiction, whether in health or other areas, “leads to duplication.”
So, we have civil servants paid in Ottawa who do the same job as civil servants paid in Quebec and in the other provinces. What we tell them is: Try to do your job well. Take care of the efficiency of the federal apparatus.
Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc Québécois finance spokesperson
“We will always manage taxpayers’ dollars prudently, while providing the high-quality services that Canadians expect,” said Treasury Board President Anita Anand in a written statement.
“The public service changes its size according to government priorities, with deputy ministers ensuring the coherence of the workforce with government priorities,” she said. She recalled that federal civil servants represented 0.86% of the Canadian population, a proportion comparable to that of 2010 which was 0.84%, according to the Demographic Overview of the Public Service of Canada.
As for service delivery, Minister Anita Anand added that the government was replacing and modernizing its digital systems so that “all Canadians have access to the high-quality services they deserve.”