The government’s announced plan to cut spending by 15 per cent in three years is a reckless and irresponsible move that will leave our country more vulnerable. Despite repeated promises during the election campaign to cap the size of the federal public service, Prime Minister Carney is now betraying the millions of Canadians who voted for him by introducing drastic cuts that will jeopardize services that Canadians rely on.
“These arbitrary austerity measures are completely disconnected from the question of who is going to deliver on the prime minister’s promises to Canadians,” said CAPE President Nathan Prier. “Mark Carney is setting Canada up for more of the same – record amounts of waste on outside contractors for work that could be done more efficiently by public servants, driving away top talent in the middle of a national crisis, rushed Silicon Valley hype around AI that will cost us more than it saves, and most egregiously, billions of dollars wasted on defunct workplace models.”
CAPE continues to call for common-sense cost-cutting measures that don’t involve attacks on the workforce. There are easy wins to be had from trimming down bloated management ranks, ending the wasteful practice of hiring private contractors to do work public servants should be doing, and saving billions of dollars every year by downsizing our real estate footprint by letting workers who can work remotely do so.
When governments make big promises to Canadians, public sector employees are the ones who deliver on them. And when governments directly undermine their ability to do their jobs, Canadians ultimately suffer the consequences.
