Counting the cuts
Mark Carney's attacks on Canada's public service should concern all Canadians.
Mark Carney has promised to remove $60B from the federal government through near-across-the-board cuts. It’s a funny thing to decide to do now, given the threat of US annexation. Canadian sovereignty has never been so important, but it has also almost never been as fragile either. In fact, it’s possible that it’s never been more fragile in our 158 year history.
While the federal government is trying to eliminate 40,000 jobs, they will be increasing the number of people who are employed by the Department of National Defence by 8604. The number of members of the Canadian Armed Forces increased by 6,700 last year.
Global News compiled a list of where money is going to be cut, and where it’s going to be boosted. Here are their two graphs. But even in the departments ostensibly getting a spending injection, there are still cuts.
It’s also worth noting that the defense contracts are starting. Here’s what we know:
$1.4B to manufacture ammunition ($306.3M for IMT Precision for shell casings)
~$1B for the NRC to spend on drones and aircraft research and equipment.
$307M for Colt Canada to make rifles for the CAF.
$200 million for new space port in Canso (??)
$50M for Defence Innovation Secure Hubs
$1.75M for new drone award (??)
$19.1M to buy appartment building for CAF members in Courtenay
$2.4B to remove taxes from gas for the Spring and Summer
Here’s a round-up of federal cuts announced so far, by alphabetical order:
Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada
28 positions of 679 total. They will use AI to save money and fill in gaps: “Use of AI to modernize operations and improve access to justice. We will continue to pilot machine learning translation tools to support bilingualism and enhance efficiency. We will also continue to pilot AI for legal research and participate in Shared Services Canada’s CANChat generative AI pilot.”
Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada
655 positions to be cut. Agriculture Climate Solution Living Labs program (started in 2021) will be cut. It was used to try and find ways for carbon sequestering of greenhouse gas (probably ok to cut…) They also plan to close agricultural research centres which investigate how to optimize growing conditions in Canada’s climate.
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
65 postitions of 579 to be cut.
Bureau of Pension Advocates
96 positions will be cut at this office, which helps veterans and RCMP members who have disability appeals. Included in the cuts are 24 lawyers. These were temporary positions created in 2023 to clear a backlog of disability claims, a backlog that has continued to grow. The Veterans Review and Appeal Board received a 40% increase in applications last year.
Canada Border Services Agency
The plan is to cut 386 positions of a total workforce of 17,234.
Canada Revenue Agency
They plan to cut 2620 posts over three years.
Canada Economic Development for Quebec Region:
24 unionized positions
Canada Post
Carney plans to privatize it, cutting 99% of its public funding.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
To save $235 million in savings over four years, CFIA is going to cut 587 jobs. The Liberals’ federal budget said. that this, “will reduce overlap and duplication within the organization, such as by ensuring accountability for each business line, reducing non-core research activities to focus on high-priority diagnostic methods, and consolidating lab services to focus on essential testing and avoid the need for costly capital upgrades.”
Canadian Heritage
This department has been told to cut $270M out of its bugdet. They are eliminating 180 jobs of a total department size of 1910 positions. They will cut $76 million out of the Canada Cultural Space Fund, Canada Media Fund, Canada Periodical Fund and Local Journalism Initiatve. They also cut the special envoys for Islamophobia and Antisemitism.
Canadian Museum of History, Canadian War Museum
67 positions.
Canada School of Public Service
66 positions eliminated through layoffs and retirement.
Canadian Spacce Agency
Their budget will be cut by one-third, or $400 million.
CBC
The budget to CBC will be cut by 7%, or $192 million.
Correctional Services Canada
At least 31 librarians work in the federal prison system. It’s part of a directive to cut $132.2 million by 2028-29. To get towards that goal, these cuts will save $2.4 million. Activists have mobilized to try and get the cuts reversed. From CBC: “The most effective crime prevention strategy that can happen in the prison is to provide more education, more training, more access to reading materials,” said Melissa Munn, a retired professor of criminology at Okanagan College. They also plan to cut 418 positions. cut fewer than 850 jobs.
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
186 positions to be cut as of December, though CTV notes that the numbers could change.
Employment and Social Development Canada
The department plans to cut 5411 jobs of a total workforce of 42,520. The hope is to use something they magically refer to as “AI” to make up the service gap that these cuts will result in. They plan to cut $1.4 billion from their budget by doing things like cutting previously temporary funding from Early Learning and Child Care Program and the Canada Summer Jobs program.
Environment and Climate Change Canada
They plan to cut 1400 jobs from this department.
Finance
96 posts to be eliminated of 963 total positions.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
They plan to cut 767 posts of a total workforce of 8,198 and cut $371 million from its budget over two years.
Global Affairs Canada
CTV reports that “3,295 employees, 406 executives” received notices in January. They are eliminating 840 887 positions. They are also cutting $2.7B out of the global aid budget over four years. To try and make up for the job and funding cuts, Randeep Sarai, secretary of state for international development, told the Canadian Press that they want to get “creative” with aid, by twinning it with funding private capital at the same time. So rather than funding women’s needs they might instead fund a cinnamon factory where the women work. It will ensure local buisness owners get rich while their workplace remains subjugated, which is kind of the opposite point of global aid. They also plan to eliminate several programs by not renewing them, like Canada’s International Climate Finance Commitment.
Health Canada
They plan to cut 1092 jobs from Health Canada.
Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada
137 posts eliminated of 1138 in the department.
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
906 positions to be cut of a workforce of 6,526.
Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees Canada
328 positions to be cut.
Indigenous Services Canada
The feds will be cutting $3 billion from this department.
Interim Federal Health Program
To save $358M, the federal government will take away access to prescription drugs and health services for free for refugees. This program has existed for decades and is premised on the idea that a refugee arrives in Canada with very little means, and it is in everyone’s best interest for them to have their health needs paid for.
Department of Justice
134 positions to be cut of 5,608.
Library and Archives Canada
161 posts to be elimited of 1138 total positions. They will end the Documentary Heritage Communities Program and reduce its Access to Information and Privacy functions.
National Film Board of Canada plans to cut 14 jobs. Two years ago, 53 jobs were also cut from the NFB. Management says that this is the result of being asked to cut 15% of their budget. In total, 342 people work for the NFB.
National Research Council of Canada
196 unionized positions eliminated
Natural Resources Canada
400 positions
Nuclear facility Chalk River is now managed by Americans
Chalk River is now managed by an American-owned consortium. Chalk River is a nuclear research facility — the only one that would be equipped to develop nuclear weapons, if it ever came to that. It’s owned by the Crown Corporation Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. Carney’s Liberals sold the management of AECL to The American consortium is called Nuclear Laboratory Partners of Canada Inc. (of course). We pay the consortium $1.2B annually to manage it. From the Globe and Mail: “The American-owned consortium is led by a large nuclear specialty manufacturer focused on military equipment and nuclear fuel called BWX Technologies Inc. It also performs nuclear site restoration work and holds a large U.S. government contract to perform environmental work at Hanford, a decommissioned nuclear production complex in the state of Washington. (BWXT has 1,900 employees in Canada.) The consortium also includes BWXT’s recently acquired Canadian subsidiary Kinectrics Inc., along with Virginia-based Amentum Environment & Energy Inc. Another organization, Battelle Memorial Institute, based in Ohio, has been described as a “key subcontractor.”
Parks Canada faces cutbacks and closures
To save money as part of the federal mandate, Parks Canada will partially close. Fort Lennox National Historic Site has been closed since 2024, even though the feds paid $14.9 million to maintain the site. Battle of Châteauguay National Historic Site’s building is closed, as is the Cartier-Brébeuf National Historic Site in Quebec City. Wilfrid Laurier's birthplace in Saint-Lin is only open by appointment and William Lyon Mackenzie King’s childhood home is only open two months of the year.
44 jobs are going to be “adjusted” and 37 positions eliminated. In total, 496 people work for the Parole Board of Canada, which manages parole for people who are serving sentences in all parts of Canada.
Pacific Economic Development Canada
2 positions cut
Privy Council
179 of 1208 positions to be cut.
Public Health Agency of Canada
53 positons cut through retirements and not replacing them.
Public Services and Procurement Canada
They plan to cut nearly 6000 jobs.
Public Service Commission of Canada
40 positions cut of 803 total.
Public Safety Canada
Jobs that will be cut at Public Safety Canada will be related to, “IT, communications and legal services.”
RCMP
173 positions to be cut of 12,220 total.
Shared Services Canada
Cut its budget by $159.3 million in 2026-27, $212 million in 2027-28 and $318.5 million in 2028-29 and cut somewhere between 500 and 750 jobs (conflicting reports).
In total, 3,274 “workforce adjustment notices” were issued to the staff of Canada’s only national statistics agency. There are a total of 7,274 workers at the agency. Thanks to Statistics Canada, we know so much about ourselves.
Transport Canada
They plan to cut 607 jobs of a total workforce of 6,666, by cutting, “spending on programs listed as regulatory and oversight frameworks, IT, human resources, communications and legal services”
Treasury Board Secretariat
556 positions to be cut of 2374 total.
Nature groups warn federal funding cuts endangering efforts to protect land, water
Carney has cut $534 million from conservation plans. The government has not yet given any explanation about how it will make up this much money in its conversation plans for Canada’s threatned lands, coastlines and water.
With thanks especially to reporting from CTV’s Josh Pringle, Global’s David Akin, CP’s Dylan Robertson and the team at the Ottawa Citizen.
Truly shocking to read, especially who are now running Chalk River Nuclear Facility.
The cuts to the Agricultural Research Stations on the Prairies are closer to home and mean more local community decline, lack of support jobs and potential valuable research into new crops for Prairie Regions.
I have had my doubts about Carney.
He is no scientist.
He is following in the footsteps of Harper whose destruction of the Canadian Wheat Board destroyed the Port of Churchill which now is being touted as vital for our "defence".
Harper also destroyed or privatised Science librairies.
Beware of dapper , well spoken, jet setting bankers in well cut suits as prime ministers.
There are also crown corporations. I’m inside one of these. It is so hard to plan anything because you don’t know who is going to be there month to month. The time when we need to be rallying together in these organizations, is the time Carney thought is was best that we are set against to compete for our jobs.
The only way this makes sense is if he thinks that running the country is the same as running an investment firm.