Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday that federal public service cuts will happen “naturally through attrition,” as his government pursues spending reductions of up to 15% over three years that could eliminate tens of thousands of jobs and slash up to $19 billion in program funding.
Carney made the comments to reporters at a housing announcement in Ottawa when asked about potential job cuts. The approach differs from his election campaign promise of “caps, not cuts” to the public service.
Michael Wernick, former clerk of the Privy Council, told CBC News that relying on attrition “doesn’t make any sense as a management strategy.”
According to government data, federal employment expanded from 257,034 positions in 2015 to 357,965 in 2025 — an increase of more than 100,000 workers over the decade. More than 10,000 positions were eliminated in 2025 alone.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, representing about 240,000 government workers, said reducing positions through attrition will still hurt essential services by leaving fewer staff to handle the same workload. Union leaders said they were not properly consulted about the government’s spending restraint plans.
Ministers must present savings proposals by late August as part of a comprehensive expenditure review. The cuts aim to free up resources for housing, defense, and infrastructure spending.
Parliamentary Budget Office projections suggest the reductions could affect up to 57,000 positions by 2028, with agencies like the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada facing the deepest cuts.
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