Job cuts in budget would hit hard, say federal public service unions

OttawaFederal public service unions say the Carney government’s 2025 budget, which proposes thousands of job cuts, early retirement incentives and expanded AI use, threatens to destabilize the workforce and degrade service quality.Concerns over appeal of early retirement, effectiveness of AICameron Mahler · CBC News · Posted: Nov 05, 2025 8:16 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesLarry Rousseau, vice president of the Canadian Labour Congress, participates in a news conference by unions responding to the federal budget, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)Federal public service unions say Canada’s 2025 budget cuts would weaken the government’s work as it proposes to carve off 16,000 more jobs over more than three years.The cuts starting next year are part of the government’s larger goal of reducing the workforce to about 330,000 public servants by March 2029 — about 40,000 fewer than the all-time high in March 2024, according to the budget. As of March this year, there were about 358,000 public servants across Canada, more than 40 per cent of them in the Ottawa-Gatineau area.Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government said the changes, if passed, would streamline the public service and free up money to invest.Union leaders are saying it would come at the cost of an already efficient system.“Behind every cut is a service delay, a slower emergency response, or a system that’s one failure away from crisis,” said Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) President Sean O’Reilly in a statement.”These cuts don’t make us leaner — they make us more fragile.””When governments make big promises, somebody needs to deliver on them,” said Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) President Nathan Prier in a statement.”We call on this government to build up in-house capacity and attract top talent to the public service so we can get through this crisis.”“This is not the time to start attacking the public sector or cutting funding,” said Larry Rousseau, executive vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). “We know that the economy is really running on fumes.”WATCH | ‘You don’t modernize services by gutting them’:Mixed emotions among public servants after major cuts announcedUnions are speaking out against the cuts laid out in the federal budget, but some public servants say they’re among the sacrifices Canada might need to make this fiscal year.‘I don’t know anyone who can retire in this economy’A new offer in 2025’s budget is a $1.5 billion voluntary early retirement incentive program next year through the federal service’s pension plan.Public servants who have at least 10 years of employment and at least two years of pensionable service could apply to retire with a pension based on years worked, without any penalty for leaving early. Those who signed onto the pension plan before it was changed in 2013 could retire as young as 50 and those who signed on after the pension plan changes could retire at 55.“I don’t know anyone who can retire in this economy, and it’s early retirement at the age of 50,” said Sharon DeSousa, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).“I don’t know anyone who can afford to do that. What does the job market look like? What does the economy look like?”Cutting consultants in favour of AI raises concernsThe budget also proposes wide adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce reliance on and the cost of consultants. Part of that is establishing a digital transformation office and creating an AI tool to be deployed across the federal government.“When you need your compassionate care benefits, you want to talk to a human being. When you want your employment insurance, you want to deal with [a] human being,” DeSousa said.“What [the public needs] is to know that the federal public service is there as a safety net to provide their benefits.”Alongside reductions in spending on administration, travel, training and other areas, limiting the use of external consultants is expected to save $25.2 billion over four years, according to the budget document.Sharon DeSousa, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), participated in Wednesday’s news conference too. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)’A political sop to intolerance’O’Reilly, Prier, Rousseau and DeSousa regrouped Wednesday morning for a news conference where they blasted the proposed cuts. Vivian Funk, vice-president of health and safety for the Association of Justice Counsel (AJC), which represents more than 3,500 federal lawyers, also attended and spoke out against what’s in the budget — or in her case, what’s not. Funk said she and her colleagues help defend Canada against legal claims totalling $1 trillion at any given time, prosecute serious crimes such as drug trafficking and terrorism, and keep Canada safe. “But right now, that capacity is under attack,” she said, adding that AJC members have already faced job cuts and the cancellation of a crucial training program, all while shouldering mounting caseloads. “The government promised new funding for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. That support is nowhere to be found in this budget.”Rousseau called the Carney government’s plan to reduce immigration targets “absolutely reprehensible.” “Show me where in the past that the economy of this country did not benefit from welcoming immigrants,” he said. “The more immigrants we welcome, the more this country prospers. “And Mr. Carney, as an economist, knows that this is a political sop to intolerance, to people who are saying that the problems [they are] experiencing [are] because of the other.”ABOUT THE AUTHORCameron is a journalist with CBC News. He’s worked with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo covering local news, municipal councils, and both the 2025 provincial and federal elections. Cameron also interned with CBC Toronto’s Enterprise Unit, helping to cover elements of the Greenbelt controversy. Contact Cameron with story ideas at cameron.mahler@cbc.ca. Follow Cameron on X @cam_mahlerWith files from Alistair Steele and Guy Quenneville