(Ottawa) The President of the Treasury Board, Anita Anand, announced on Wednesday that no government department or agency would be immediately excluded from the process of eliminating 5,000 civil servant positions.
The one who is responsible for the public service specified that all the ministers would contribute to developing a plan. “Everyone is going to look at their officials in their (ministry). It’s not just the biggest departments. That’s everyone,” she said before heading to a Liberal caucus meeting.
By unveiling its 2024 budget, Ottawa announced on Tuesday its intention to reduce the size of government by 5,000 positions, which should allow savings of 4.2 billion over four years. This will be done through natural attrition, i.e. resignations and retirements.
“It is very important to continue to reallocate, to refocus our spending towards our government priorities, and that is part of this process,” insisted Wednesday Ms.me Anand.
She explained that reducing the size of the State is part of the effort already underway to make savings of 15 billion within the federal apparatus.
The main union of federal public servants, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), says it is concerned about the announced job cuts.
“As the population grows, we must continue to invest in public services to meet people’s needs. Investing in public services is the best way to avoid long queues at Canadian borders and airports,” said PSAC President Chris Aylward in a press release.
According to the most recent data published by Ottawa, there are a total of 357,247 federal civil servants in the central public administration, which excludes in particular the workforce of the army and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.