How public servants can prepare now for post-election cuts
Public Service Confidential is a workplace advice column for federal public servants. The following question has been edited for clarity and length.
Dear Public Service Confidential,
This federal election has been one of anguish for many of us in the federal public service. None of the choices seem great.
The Liberals have already started a spending review and plan to cap the size of the public service. If elected, their approach to the public service will be quite different to that of the Trudeau Liberals in 2015.
The Conservatives, inspired by what's happening in the U.S., seem gleeful to make deep cuts and their leader is always willing to deride public servants, or as he calls them 'gatekeepers.'
And the NDP and Greens don't have a chance at forming government.
When the dust settles on this election, how should public servants prepare for what's next?
— A tired public servant
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Liberal Leader Mark Carney's platform has stated he will balance the operating budget over the next three years by cutting waste, eliminating duplication and deploying technology. What he really means is cuts to programs, job loss and the use of more artificial intelligence.
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has stated that he will 'streamline' the public service gradually and through attrition 'without mass layoffs' and will wind down the cost of the bureaucracy by hiring back only two people for every three who voluntarily depart or retire.
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This sounds relatively innocuous, but here's the catch: the platform also aims for savings of $77.7 billion over four years which will come from cancelling programs and finding efficiencies, which again, will mean public service job cuts. Federal workers who were around in 2011 will remember the dreaded DRAP (Deficit Reduction Action Plan) when the Conservatives under then prime minister Stephen Harper cut tens of thousands of positions in four years.
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Both parties are also on record stating that they will cut back on the use of external consultants, which is welcome news, but neither party mentioned how the work currently being done by those firms will be completed in the future. The smart thing to do would be to take those savings and invest them in the development of the public service of tomorrow.
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So, yes cuts are coming to the federal public service. Federal public sector workers should think about how vulnerable they may be to any job loss.
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In Budget 2023, the Liberal government announced it would 'refocus' $14.1 billion over five years from federal departments and agencies, as well as $1.3 billion from crown corporations. This led to a decision to shrink the public service by 5,000 jobs, which government officials originally said would be done through attrition. But since then, they expanded that net to cover laying off term and casual workers, as well as even indeterminate employees.
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