Several federal departments will begin notifying employees in January that their positions could be affected by workforce reductions, as Ottawa moves ahead with plans to cut tens of thousands of public service jobs and rein in spending over the next four years.
The federal government is seeking to eliminate 28,000 positions and generate $60 billion in savings by 2029 as part of its comprehensive expenditure review. Notices have already begun going out in some departments, while others say affected employees will be informed early in the new year.
Natural Resources Canada confirmed that about 700 employees received letters in December advising them their positions “will or may be impacted” by future changes. The department says it plans to eliminate roughly 400 positions by 2028–29. Federal unions report that employees in several other departments, including Finance, the Public Service Commission, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, and the Privy Council Office, have also received similar notices.
Under the 2025 federal budget, the Liberal government aims to reduce the size of the federal public service from its peak of nearly 368,000 employees in 2024 to about 330,000 by 2028–29. As of March 31, 2025, the federal workforce stood at just under 358,000.
The government plans to cut 16,000 full-time equivalent positions directly, including hundreds of executive roles, while eliminating another 12,000 jobs through attrition and early retirement. Officials say reductions will be managed through layoffs, voluntary departures and workforce adjustment processes.
Several major departments told the media that formal notices will be issued in January. Public Services and Procurement Canada, Shared Services Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Global Affairs Canada and Statistics Canada all confirmed employees will receive updates or notices in the coming weeks as departmental plans are finalized.
Other departments, including Correctional Service Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Health Canada, say they are still assessing how the spending reductions will affect their operations and staffing levels.
Unions have expressed concern about uncertainty and the pace of the rollout. Some noted that while additional notices are expected in January, details on the scale and location of job losses remain unclear.
Meanwhile, about 68,000 federal public servants received early-retirement notices earlier this month. The government says workforce reductions will be handled “to the greatest extent possible” through attrition and voluntary retirement, with more information on early retirement options to be released later.
As departments prepare to implement the spending cuts, thousands of public servants are bracing for clarity on whether their jobs will be among those on the chopping block in the months ahead.
