Federal unions vow to fight public service cuts as government looks to trim costs

OTTAWA — Canada’s federal public service unions vowed on Wednesday to “fight” planned job cuts, arguing they will undermine services for Canadians.

Tuesday’s federal budget outlined a plan to lower program spending and administration costs by about $60 billion over the next five years.

It also says the government intends to have 10 per cent fewer federal employees by 2029 — a loss of about 40,000 jobs from the public service peak of 368,000 two years ago. About 10,000 jobs were already eliminated over the last year.

Trimming the payroll through attrition remains a goal, the government said, but the budget makes it clear that some positions will be cut.

At a press conference Wednesday, Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Sharon DeSousa said the union will speak to “every MP” and the president of the Treasury Board to stress the impact of cuts.

“Make no mistake, we will fight these cuts and protect constitutional rights of workers across this country,” DeSousa said. “(Prime Minister Mark) Carney’s government is choosing cuts over care, profit over people, and everyone in Canada will pay the price.”

Larry Rousseau, executive vice president of the Canadian Labour Congress, told the press conference the labour movement will fight any attack on public services and workers’ rights.

“The budget really reads like austerity, and Canada’s unions refuse to let workers pay the price,” he said.

“The government wants to cut tens of thousands of public service jobs. This will mean longer EI waits, slower passports, fewer safety inspections, food inspections, delays for seniors and families.”

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Liberal MP Greg Fergus said the budget’s approach to the public service is “tough” but is still “a lot better” than cuts made under former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Fergus represents the riding of Hull — Aylmer in the National Capital Region, where 153,979 public servants lived as of March 2025.

“This is something we’re all looking at and we’re making sure that it’s going to be done through a very civilized way,” he said.

Fergus said he goes door-knocking in his riding regularly and knows that his constituents were concerned about cuts.

“If we’re going to be doing big things, we need to make sure that we have the means to do it and the tools to do it, and that requires some adjustments,” Fergus said.

“We’re going to get back to a size of government that we had before the pandemic.”

The Government of Canada website says the federal public service employed 287,983 people in 2019.

The budget says the size of the public service is expected to hit roughly 330,000 by the end of 2028-29.

Canada’s top bureaucrat warned the budget’s spending reduction target is a “big number” that will mean cuts to programs and jobs in the public service.

In a message sent to federal employees after the budget was tabled, Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Sabia said the plan will lead to reductions in some programs and the cancellation of others.

Sabia said it’s inevitable that reduced spending will shrink the size of the public service.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2025.