Toronto/CMEDIA: To reportedly achieve $60 billion in savings in the years ahead, Canada federal government is outlining how departments and agencies will reduce the size of the public service.
A plan to reduce the size of the federal public service by 28,000 positions by 2029 was outlined by the Canada Strong Budget 2025, released in November and directed departments to find up to 15 percent in savings as part of the comprehensive expenditure review.
Also read: Latest information on federal public service, including notices, job cuts, return to office rules and more
The departmental plans for 2026-27 on how 90 federal departments and agencies will meet commitments to find savings outlining as part of the comprehensive expenditure review between 2026-27 and 2028-29 has been released by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat .
Also outlining how many full-time equivalent positions each department will cut over the next three years, the departmental plans include 1,500 job cuts at Employment and Social Development Canada, 1,200 positions at Global Affairs Canada, 665 positions at Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada and 837 positions at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Over 26,000 public servants have received notices about their jobs being at risk as revealed by the data provided by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, federal departments and unions.
Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada
Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada is planning to reduce its workforce by 665 positions by 2028-29 by spending reductions of $112 million in 2026-27, $80 million in 2027-28 and $154 million in 2028-29 and by winding down some programs outside its core mandate, such as the Agricultural Climate Solution Living Labs” programs.
Also planning to improve operational efficiency, The department is optimizing internal services, including “rationalizing administrative support and reducing management layers, and reducing reliance on external contractors by using advancing technology and automation to cut down on time-consuming manual work.
The department plans to reduce its workforce from 4,927 positions in 2025-26 to 4,801 positions in 2026-27, 4,642 positions in 2027-28, and 4,215 positions in 2028-29.
Canadian Heritage
Canadian Heritage plans to cut 172 positions by 2028-29 by reducing spending by $34,670,817 in 2026-27, $49.2 million in 2027-28, and $93 million in 2028-29 as well as to reduce the size of its workforce from 1,946 positions in 2025-26 to 1,872 positions in 2026-27 and 1,716 positions by 2028-29.
Canadian Heritage will find $75.9 million in savings by 2028-29 , according to the departmental plan through the Canada Cultural Space Fund, Canada Media Fund, Canada Periodical Fund, Local Journalism and Digital Citizen program.
Canada Revenue Agency
Canada Revenue Agency (CRC) plans to reduce the workforce from 51,427 positions in 2026-27 to 49,498 positions in 2026-27, 48,939 employees in 2027-28 and 48,807 positions in 2028-29 and aims to reduce spending under the comprehensive expenditure review by $90 million in 2026-27, $131.7 million in 2027-28 and $187 million in 2028-29.
By “modernizing its administrative approach” and winding down its business units “that are no longer connected to government priorities,” CRA says it will also leverage artificial intelligence and process automation to transform technologies, data, and analytics systems for CRA activities.
Employment and Social Development Canada
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) plans to reduce the size of its workforce from 34,514 FTE positions in 2025-26 to 30,945 FTE positions in 2026-27 and 29,893 positions in 2027-28 by reducing spending by $156.8 million in 2026-27, $519.8 million in 2027-28 and $780.5 million in 2028-29 by decreasing the size of its workforce by 1,500 positions between 2026-27 and 2028-29.
To achieve these plans, ECDC would implement a “new Digital Roadmap” to “better harness technology, such as leveraging artificial intelligence,” modernize Services Canada by “fully integrating our service channels,” and streamlining program delivery and administrative functions. The report shows the drop in full-time equivalent (FTE) positions is due to a reduction in planned positions for the delivery of Passport services and other service delivery partnerships, lower staffing for processing and payments of Employment Insurance and the Canada Pension Plan and due to the sunsetting of temporary program funding.
Environment and Climate Change Canada
The departmental plans to reduce to reduce its workforce by 837 positions by 2028-29 by decreasing spending by $236.7 million in 2026-27, $244 million in 2027-28 and $282 million in 2028-29 with its number of positions dropping from 8,196 full-time equivalent positions in 2025-26 to 7,868 positions in 2026-27, 7.678 positions in 2027-28 and 7,352 positions by 2028-29. The department also plans to reduce the Low Carbon Economy Fund, align nature funding for better overall results and improve internal business strategies.
Global Affairs Canada
Global Affairs Canada plans to reduce the size of its workforce by 1,240 full-time equivalent positions by 2028-29, and find spending reductions of $560.8 million in 2026-27, $747 million in 2027-28 and $1.12 billion in 2028-29.
According to the plan, Global Affairs will achieve the reductions by:
Refocusing Canada’s international presence in the areas of advocacy and diplomacy, Implementing targeted reforms across the trade and investment portfolio, Aligning development, peace, and security programming, through a range of measures and cost-saving strategies finding efficiencies across Canada’s mission network
Health Canada
Health Canada’s departmental plan shows workforce will be reduced from 9,191 positions in 2025-26 to 8,614 employees in 2026-27, 8,529 positions in 2027-28 and 7,023 positions in 2028-29.
The department says it will achieve savings by:
Modernizing and streamlining programs and operations, Adopting new ways of working and shifting toward a more agile, efficient system that supports Canadians, Modernizing regulatory and research functions, strengthening evidence-based decision-making through risk-based approaches, and building on established collaboration with international counterparts.
“The decrease in FTEs for 2028-29 is primarily due to the expiry of budgetary authorities for the administration of the Cannabis Act and its regulations and the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy,” Health Canada said in its plan.“
Public Services and Procurement Canada
The departmental plans to decrease the size of the workforce by 1,793 positions by 2028-29, and by reducing spending by $108 million in 2026-27, $147 million in 2027-28 and $190.8 million in 2028-29.
To achieve these results to department would:
Undertake strategic realignments to reduce ongoing costs, Reduce ongoing costs for its Real Property Revolving Fund; Wind down activities of the Canada General Standards Board,
Reduce funding to pilot and innovation projects for Laboratories Canada, Review its internal processes to reduce administrative requirements. Advance digital delivery of procurement-related documents
Shared Services Canada
The department plans to reduce spending by $159.3 million in 2026-27, $212 million in 2027-28 and $318.5 million in 2028-29, and trim its workforce by “fewer than 500 full-time equivalent positions” over the next three years by reducing its workforce from 8,928 positions in 20250-26 to 8,796 positions in 2026-27, 8,656 positions in 2027-28 and 8,344 employees in 2028-29.
Shared Services Canada will achieve its targets under the comprehensive expenditure review by:
Driving efficient enterprise solutions, Reducing reliance on Legacy, Increasing efficiency through artificial intelligence, automation and modernizing business processes, and Reducing dependency on professional services.
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada says it will decrease its workforce by 900 positions over the next three years and reduce spending by $52.8 million in 2026-27, $69.7 million in 2027-28 and $95.9 million in 2028-29 by reducing from 6,129 positions in 2026-27 to 5,169 positions in 2027-28 and 4,252 positions by 2028-29.
“Human resources will peak in 2026-27, when the 2026 Census of Population and 2026 Census of Agriculture are conducted,” the departmental plan said and added, “As in previous census cycles, a significant decrease in FTEs is expected in subsequent years as census operations wind down.”
Statistics Canada will achieve its spending reductions by:
Program realignment through targeted reductions, and implementation of program cost-saving efficiencies.
