Federal Departments Plan Job Cuts of 5%, Lower Than the Promised 10%: Budget Watchdog

Cyclists make their way along the Ottawa River and past Parliament Hill in Gatineau, Quebec, on Sept. 18, 2020. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick1/9/2026|Updated: 1/9/2026The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) says five federal departments have released plans to cut nearly 2,000 jobs by 2030, representing workforce reductions of 4.7 percent.“Information on service-level impacts was limited and varied across organizations, but all indicated that the planned reductions are expected to have a ‘low’ or ‘limited’ impact on existing service levels,” the PBO said in its Jan. 8 report.Matthew Horwood is a reporter based in Ottawa.Author’s Selected Articles