Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is aiming to cut another 761 positions under the government’s “comprehensive expenditure review,” on top of hundreds of cuts it’s already made.
The department’s deputy minister Arianne Reza updated workers about the planned cuts in a Monday email obtained by the Ottawa Citizen.
Since April 1, 2025, PSPC has been shedding jobs.
The department, which acts as the government’s property manager and pay administrator, is planning to eliminate a total of 1,090 positions, of which 329 have already been eliminated, including 29 executives.
Cuts have thus far been completed “through attrition, staffing controls or other human resources measures,” according to the email.
To achieve the remaining 761 job cuts, PSPC has issued 1,153 letters notifying employees their jobs may be affected. Those workforce adjustment letters went out last Wednesday and Thursday.
“As we move through these changes, we remain committed to supporting our employees,” the email said, before referring workers to government resources.
PSPC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thus far, most departments have been reticent to share specific numbers on cuts. Statistics Canada, however,
confirmed last week it is cutting 850 positions
over two years.
Workforce adjustment and comprehensive expenditure review
Workforce adjustment is the process through which the government makes alternative employment opportunities available, where possible, for permanent workers who lose their positions.
Public servants are notified if their job may be, or is being, eliminated.
Those who receive workforce adjustment notices could have an opportunity to trade places with an employee who wants to leave (in what’s called alternation) or to compete for a position.
Budget 2025 aims to reduce the size of the public service by nearly 40,000 workers from a peak of 368,000 in 2023-2024, amounting to a reduction of around 10 per cent in the overall public service headcount. Many of these jobs have already been eliminated.
The government has said it intends to rely on attrition “to the greatest extent possible” by
lowering age eligibility rules for retirement
and offering what amounts to $1.5 billion in incentives.
Under the comprehensive expenditure review, the government’s roadmap to achieve the cuts, PSPC is targeting savings of about $650 million over the next four fiscal years, starting with about $110 million in 2026-2027.
In the Monday email,
Reza
said any further reductions under the comprehensive expenditure review will “be communicated if PSPC is unable to meet required reductions through attrition of other human resources measures.”
According to the budget, the department is trying to meet a 15 per cent savings target over three years by undertaking “strategic realignments,” funding pilot and innovation projects for Laboratories Canada and implementing AI chat bots and self-service tools, among other reforms.
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