The federal public service in Canada is continuing its reduction, having eliminated more than 12,000 jobs in the last fiscal year as the government aims to enhance the sustainability of the bureaucracy.
Updated figures from the Treasury Board Secretariat, which manages the federal public service, indicate that the workforce has decreased to approximately 345,000 employees nationwide as of late March.
In the 2025 budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration revealed that the size of the workforce had expanded at a rate surpassing that of Canada’s population, committing to a reduction of 4.5 per cent or 16,000 positions over the next three years.
The public service reached its highest number in 2024, with nearly 368,000 employees, before falling by around 10,000 in 2025 and more than 12,000 in 2026.
As in previous years, the Ottawa-Gatineau area housed the largest concentration of federal workers in 2025, totaling 154,000.
However, this figure has now declined to roughly 146,000, marking a reduction of about five per cent.
These recent job cuts form part of the federal government’s extensive initiative to streamline the public service to approximately 330,000 employees by the conclusion of the 2029 fiscal year.
This plan was unveiled in 2025 and encompasses cuts that were previously enacted in 2024.
The government asserts that this goal aligns with normal turnover rates, retirements, and voluntary exits from the public service.