Layoff notices sent to thousands of federal government workers

OTTAWA — Thousands of workers across the federal public service have received notices that their jobs may be cut, many of them landing in the last week.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada said 1,775 workforce adjustment notices were issued to its members last week. The union said 2,273 members have received the notices since the federal budget was released in November.

The union said those members work in several departments and agencies, including Public Services and Procurement Canada, Shared Services Canada, Statistics Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada said 1,849 of its members were served a workforce adjustment notice last week and argues that public servants are being forced into a “Hunger Games-style fight for jobs.”

The union, which held a rally to denounce the cuts last week, said in a news release that it’s demanding the government explain why experienced public servants are facing waves of workforce reductions as outsourcing spending reaches record highs.

“We are hearing directly from members that consultants are still working alongside employees who received layoff notices this week,” said PIPSC president Sean O’Reilly. “That raises serious questions.”

Government records show Canada spent more than $19 billion on external professional and special services in 2024-25, an increase of almost $2 billion since the year before and about $8.5 billion since 2020.

O’Reilly said the cuts announced are part of the government’s comprehensive expenditure review and more job losses are expected in the weeks ahead.

Ottawa is looking to cut program spending and administration costs by about $60 billion over the next five years through its “comprehensive expenditure review.”

The latest federal budget said the exercise will involve “restructuring operations and consolidating internal services.” It said it also will deploy workforce adjustments and attrition to return the size of the public service to “a more sustainable level.”

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees said more than 2,800 of its members have received workforce adjustment notices since the federal budget was released in November.

More than 1,900 of those members work at StatCan, the union said, though others work in several other departments and agencies, including Natural Resources Canada, Transport Canada and the Privy Council Office.

Workforce adjustment notices tell employees their jobs may be impacted by cuts, but it’s still unclear how many of those who received a notice will be laid off.

The government plans to cut the number of public service jobs by about 40,000 from a peak of 368,000 in 2023-24. About 10,000 jobs have been eliminated already.

The plan will see a reduction of 1,000 executive positions over the next two years, and a 20 per cent cut to spending on management and consulting services over three years.

The federal government has sent letters with information on its planned early retirement program to almost 68,000 public servants who may be eligible.

The government said it’s trying to boost the rate of attrition and avoid cutting younger workers by offering a voluntary program allowing workers to retire earlier without incurring a pension penalty.

The recent federal budget said the government intends to implement the one-year early retirement program as soon as this month.

Sharon DeSousa, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, told The Canadian Press there seems to be a “lack of transparency” as to which departments and which services will be impacted by job cuts.

She said there are also few details about the planned early retirement incentive.

“It’s impacted our members, their mental health, they don’t know if they’re going to be next,” DeSousa said. “It’s also a scary time for those who reside in Canada, because if you’re dependent on those services, you don’t how you’re going be affected, and that’s not fair.”

DeSousa said the union will continue to fight to protect as many jobs and services as it can.

Statistics Canada has already said it will cut about 850 of its staff, along with 12 per cent of its executive team.

Carter Mann, spokesperson for the national statistical agency, said last week Statistics Canada would inform affected employees within the next two weeks.

Several departments, including Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Environment and Climate Change and Employment and Social Development, told their staff late last year information on job cuts would be shared this month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2026.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press