Latest news with #Francois-PhilippeChampagne
Toronto Star
2 days ago
- Business
- Toronto Star
Ottawa is asking Canadians what they want to see in the fall budget
Ottawa is surveying Canadians on what they want to see in the fall federal budget. Minister of Finance and National Revenue Francois-Philippe Champagne speaks to reporters as he arrives at a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Thursday, June 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle GAC flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: : sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false :
Edmonton Journal
6 days ago
- Business
- Edmonton Journal
Canadian government tells employees they may face job cuts as Mark Carney looks to trim spending
The Canadian government told employees they may face job losses, as Prime Minister Mark Carney searches for spending cuts to keep the budget deficit in check. Article content Top bureaucrats at Employment and Social Development Canada and other government departments sent emails to employees on Wednesday informing them of a broad review of how the government spends and what it does. 'Given the scope of requested spending reductions, adjustments to our workforce may be necessary,' said the memo, which was seen by Bloomberg News. Article content Article content Article content A separate memo from senior managers at Global Affairs Canada, which runs the country's diplomatic service, said budget reductions may equal C$1.1 billion ($804 million) by the 2028-2029 fiscal year. 'This review will require difficult decisions affecting our workforce,' it said. Article content Earlier this week, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne asked members of his cabinet to find billions of dollars in savings to help the government pay for major expenditures on defense, infrastructure and capital projects. Article content Article content ESDC has responsibility for an insurance plan for unemployed workers, labor laws and training, among other government programs. In the memo, the department's senior managers say they are drafting options to find potential savings of 15% by fiscal year 2028-29. Article content Article content 'Organizations are being asked to bring forward ambitious savings proposals to spend less on the day-to-day running of government by targeting programs and activities that are underperforming,' said the memo. Article content Article content In a statement Tuesday, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, a union, said planned spending reviews 'look and feel like austerity.' Article content During this year's election campaign, Carney pledged to spend less on federal operations so the government can invest more in housing and in projects that improve Canada's economy and productivity. Article content Some, including Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux, have questioned whether the government will be able to find enough savings to offset massive spending pledges for defense. Some forecasters now see the government running a budget deficit well above C$70 billion for the current fiscal year. The government's official forecast in December projected a C$42 billion shortfall.
Vancouver Sun
6 days ago
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Canadian government tells employees they may face job cuts as Mark Carney looks to trim spending
The Canadian government told employees they may face job losses, as Prime Minister Mark Carney searches for spending cuts to keep the budget deficit in check. Top bureaucrats at Employment and Social Development Canada and other government departments sent emails to employees on Wednesday informing them of a broad review of how the government spends and what it does. 'Given the scope of requested spending reductions, adjustments to our workforce may be necessary,' said the memo, which was seen by Bloomberg News. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The department, known in Ottawa by the acronym ESDC, employed more than 36,000 people in the fiscal year ended March 2024. A separate memo from senior managers at Global Affairs Canada, which runs the country's diplomatic service, said budget reductions may equal C$1.1 billion ($804 million) by the 2028-2029 fiscal year. 'This review will require difficult decisions affecting our workforce,' it said. Earlier this week, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne asked members of his cabinet to find billions of dollars in savings to help the government pay for major expenditures on defense, infrastructure and capital projects. ESDC has responsibility for an insurance plan for unemployed workers, labor laws and training, among other government programs. In the memo, the department's senior managers say they are drafting options to find potential savings of 15% by fiscal year 2028-29. 'Organizations are being asked to bring forward ambitious savings proposals to spend less on the day-to-day running of government by targeting programs and activities that are underperforming,' said the memo. In a statement Tuesday, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, a union, said planned spending reviews 'look and feel like austerity.' During this year's election campaign, Carney pledged to spend less on federal operations so the government can invest more in housing and in projects that improve Canada's economy and productivity. Some, including Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux, have questioned whether the government will be able to find enough savings to offset massive spending pledges for defense. Some forecasters now see the government running a budget deficit well above C$70 billion for the current fiscal year. The government's official forecast in December projected a C$42 billion shortfall. Top bureaucrats at Indigenous Services Canada also told employees this week the expenditure review 'will involve difficult decisions that will impact our programs and activities, as well as our workforce.' — With assistance from Mario Baker Ramirez, Mathieu Dion and Melissa Shin. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Hamilton Spectator
09-07-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Unions concerned by scale of Carney government's proposed spending cuts
OTTAWA — Public sector union leaders met with government officials on Tuesday as they raised concerns that the Liberal administration's new plan to reduce internal spending is moving too fast and could lead to job cuts and worse federal services. The meeting was held a day after media reports that Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali asked all cabinet ministers to come up with ways to cut spending in their respective portfolios. It's not yet clear where the reductions will come from, but the Star confirmed Monday that the government wants departments to drop their annual spending by 15 per cent over the next three years from a pool of funding worth more than $143 billion. That would mean more than $21.5 billion in internal savings by the 2028-29 fiscal year — a significantly higher target than the $13 billion that Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals promised by that time during the campaign for the April 28 general election. Since then, however, Carney has announced a surge in defence spending, with an extra $9 billion this year, and plans to crank up military budgets by tens of billions more to meet new commitments inked in June through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In a written statement, the president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents about 240,000 workers, said Carney's proposed 'deep spending cuts' will harm programs Canadians rely on. Sharon DeSousa also warned they could result in 'thousands of public service job cuts' across the country. 'Canada's public service workers power this country, and we need a government that supports a strong, stable public service to take on the challenges ahead,' DeSousa's statement said. Sean O'Reilly, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, which represents 80,000 workers, also attended Tuesday's meeting with government officials. He said they provided roughly the same information that was already public, and that he left feeling worried about how fast the government is moving, with a request to cabinet ministers to identify areas for spending reduction by the end of August. 'They're basically giving them the next six, seven weeks to come up with ideas,' O'Reilly told the Star. 'That is not proper, and I'm worried that we're going to see cuts that are going to affect Canadians very directly,' He added that his union — which represents Canada Revenue Agency workers, scientists and meteorologists, among others — supports finding ways the government can operate more efficiently, but said he is worried the exercise could lead to 'cuts just for cuts.' Spokespeople for Champagne and Ali declined to comment about the union concerns on Tuesday. Carney has said repeatedly that his plan is to reduce how much the government spends on internal operations, while using federal dollars for to 'invest more' in areas that grow the economy. He has also said his Liberal government won't cut federal transfer payments to individuals and other levels of government, and that it would preserve social programs like national child care, dental care, and public coverage for birth control and diabetes medication. Regarding the public service, Carney has said operational spending has grown too fast over the past decade, and that he would cap the number of civil servants in the federal government. The letter detailing the spending review called on cabinet ministers to find 'ambitious savings' to 'spend less on the day-to-day running of government,' according to an excerpt that a senior government source provided to the Star. The letter also asked them to review programs in their portfolios and determine whether they working as intended or duplicate what other levels of government are doing. The plan significantly exceeds a previous spending review planned under Carney's predecessor, Justin Trudeau, when the government sought $15.4 billion in internal savings over five years. Economists like David Macdonald at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives have said the scale of the Liberal government's planned spending reductions appear larger than those seen 30 years ago under then-prime minister Jean Chrétien. As Macdonald explained Monday, in comments that echoed a study he published June 30, that assumes the government excludes the Department of National Defence from reductions, as it prepares to see military spending jump in further in the coming years. Last week, the C.D. Howe Institute published a report that projected the federal budget deficit will jump to $92.2 billion this year, up from around $62 billion predicted in the Liberal election platform , and dropping to around $71 billion in three years. The increase is largely credited to increased defence spending and other policy moves, such as the cancellation of the digital services tax under pressure from the United States. Angella MacEwen, senior economist at the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), said she shares concerns about how fast the government is moving on its new spending review. She said reductions on the scale the government has signalled also raise questions about whether any federal responsibilities will be 'downloaded' to provinces and municipalities. CUPE represents workers at both those levels of government, where further budgetary constraints could add to concerns that public infrastructure or services could get privatized to ease pressure on balance sheets, MacEwen said. 'If I were a province or a municipality right now, I'd be very concerned,' she said.
Edmonton Journal
04-07-2025
- Business
- Edmonton Journal
Finance minister says Canada can negotiate better tariff terms with U.S. than other countries
Article content Canada's finance minister said the country can negotiate a better trade deal with the Trump administration than other nations have received, pushing back on the idea that it may have to settle for a new baseline tariff on all exports to the U.S. Article content 'We buy more from the U.S. than China, Japan, the U.K. and France combined, so we're not in the same league as others,' Francois-Philippe Champagne said in an interview. Article content Article content 'The competitiveness of North America depends on what happens between Canada and United States,' he said, pointing to Canada's wealth of critical minerals and energy, the integrated supply chains across the border and its status as the largest supplier of aluminum to the U.S. Article content Article content Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump have agreed to try to hammer out a deal by July 21 to govern the two countries' trade relationship, which saw them exchange more than $900 billion in goods and services last year. Article content The U.S. had a trade deficit of $36 billion with Canada in 2024, according to U.S. government data, mostly because it guzzles millions of barrels a day of Canadian oil and fuels. Excluding energy, the US had a trade surplus with its northern neighbor. Article content Article content The U.S., Canada and Mexico have an existing trade pact that Trump signed during his first term. But the president paid little heed to it as he placed import taxes of 50% on foreign steel and aluminum, along with levies on cars and trucks. Article content Article content 'The endgame for us is to have the best possible deal for Canadian workers and the Canadian industry,' Champagne said. 'We have, compared to many countries that are negotiating with the United States, already a trade agreement in place.' Article content The UK agreed to a framework that allows manufacturers to export as many as 100,000 vehicles a year to the US at a 10% tariff rate, but a higher tax remains on British steel. Under an agreement with Vietnam, the US will slap a 20% tariff on imports from the Asian country, Trump said this week. Meanwhile, the European Union is willing to accept a trade arrangement with the US that includes a 10% tariff on many of its exports, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News recently.
