Size of public service declines for first time since 2015

Public servants walk to work in downtown Ottawa. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIAArticle content

For the first time in a decade, the federal public service has shrunk in size.

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From 2024 to 2025 the public service shed 9,807 jobs, according to Treasury Board data.

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The reduction reflects considerable job losses at the Canada Revenue Agency in recent months. Over the past year, the tax agency lost 6,656 workers, many of them temporary workers whose contracts expired and weren’t renewed.

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The CRA saw the largest reductions in staff.

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In a press release, the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE), which represents CRA workers, said there has been a “troubling timeline” of job losses. Last December, 600 temporary workers did not see their contracts renewed at the tax agency.

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Hundreds more have been cut since, with further reductions coming, as CRA announced it will be laying off 280 permanent workers.

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Outside of the CRA, Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) cut 1,944 jobs between 2024 and 2025. In January, IRCC said it would cut 3,300 jobs over three years, including hundreds of permanent positions.

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Other significant cuts were at Health Canada, which shed 559 job losses and the Public Health Agency of Canada was reduced by 879 positions.

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Some organizations, such as the Department of Defence and the RCMP, saw their headcount grow. DND grew by 381 positions and the RCMP saw an addition of 911 jobs.

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The dip in the number of public servants followed promises from the government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau to reduce the number workers by 5,000 over four years.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised to “cap” but not cut the federal public service.

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Marc Brière, the national president for the UTE, told the Ottawa Citizen that the Liberals are “talking out of both sides of their mouth. The new government said they won’t cut the public service, but it’s in fact what’s happening right now.”

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In his mandate letter to his cabinet ministers, one of Carney’s seven priorities included “spending less on government operations so that Canadians can invest more in the people and businesses that will build the strongest economy in the G7.”

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The mandate letter also called on cabinet committees to monitor progress.

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One of the cabinet committees presides over government transformation and efficiency. The chair of that committee will be the Finance Minister of François-Philippe Champagne and the vice chair will be the minister of procurement, Joël Lightbound.

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Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali and AI Minister Evan Solomon are also on the committee.

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