Unions are voicing their concerns for the different federal departments that are facing job cuts as the government pursues its ambitious Budget 2025 commitment to reduce the public service by 40,000 full-time equivalent jobs by 2028-29. Last week, thousands of federal public servants received letters that their jobs may be affected.
“Setting a blanket goal of budget reductions for departments without an overview of the entire public service is anything but fiscally responsible,” said Sharon DeSousa, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). “It is reckless.”
DeSousa said PSAC has long been calling for a long-term, government-wide staffing plan. She said it is important that the government be transparent about its vision for the future of the public service so Canadians can know exactly how they will be affected.
“Notices are coming in piecemeal so we know the current impact that it’s going to have on the operational services, but we don’t know where this will end,” DeSousa said in a press conference on Wednesday. “We don’t know if this is going to be a one time set of cuts. Will there be others coming as well? After all, the government did announce there’s going to be cuts over the next three years, and so anything is up for grabs.”
More than 15,000 workforce adjustment notices have been issued over the last two weeks. Employment and Social Development Canada has issued affected notices to about 3,000 indeterminate employees. Thousands more workers have received notices at Health Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and science-based departments like Environment and Climate Change Canada.
As workers grapple with these changes, unions are highlighting exactly how the changes to these departments will affect Canadians.
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
As of January 27, about 3,000 ESDC workers have learned that their positions will be affected by the cuts to the public service. Matthew Brett, Political Communications Officer for the Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU), said some ESDC term employees were also notified their contracts will end early or will not be renewed.
“Canadians are struggling to get by and these programs are often a lifeline for people, businesses and communities,” said Rubina Boucher, National President, CEIU. “Carney is cutting at a time when these programs matter most. I am worried for our members and for people who rely on disability benefits, tariff-support measures, Old Age Security, Employment Insurance and plenty more.”
DeSousa highlighted that many Canadians depend on the services provided by ESDC during their most vulnerable times. As such, the government is cutting lifelines to Canadians that need support.
“This government needs to be very clear with the public on how many programs and services will be affected by the result of these reckless cuts,” she said.
DeSousa said cutting jobs at ESDC does not erase the need for the department’s services. The work will still need to get done but the load will be shouldered by fewer workers. The CEIU highlighted that the heavy workload on the employees who keep their jobs could lead to an increased reliance on automation and AI.
The union noted that automation could increase the risk of errors in sensitive cases that would have benefitted from human decision making. As well, the union raised concerns about information security and privacy.
Health Canada
Another department facing significant cuts is Health Canada, which ensures health services are accessible. Around 1,900 employees at Health Canada learned their jobs would be affected between January 19 to 23. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) said these cuts could put the safety of food, medications, and medical devices at risk.
“When you weaken the government’s ability to regulate drugs and health products, issue recalls and alerts, and respond to infectious diseases, risks go undetected and warnings come too late,” said Sean O’Reilly, president of PIPSC. “These experts help Canadians act quickly because they act quickly. You cannot cut public health without increasing risk.”
PIPSC has called on the government to reconsider the scope of the public service cuts and assess how the cuts could affect public health, safety, and service delivery.
“Canadians deserve a proactive, evidence-based, and adequately resourced health system,” O’Reilly said, “not one that is less prepared for the crises of tomorrow.”
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has also joined the many voices sharing their frustrations with the public service cuts. On January 23, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) announced that 12 per cent of its workforce and seven agriculture research facilities will be cut.
The NFU has called out the poor timing of these cuts as Canada’s relationship with the U.S. remains strained. As the country’s largest trading partner, the U.S. is a big source of processed and fresh foods.
“We are facing multiple crises that affect our capacity to produce the food and agricultural products that Canadians need,” said Phil Mount, NFU Vice President of policy. “We need more investment, not less, in our public research institutions and personnel.”
The NFU also noted that the research institutions affected carry rich history for Canada and have collected scientific data going back a century. Nova Scotia’s Nappan Research Farm and Indian Head Research Farm in Saskatchewan were both established in 1887. Alberta’s Lacombe Research Centre and Scott Research Farm in Saskatchewan were established in 1907 and 1911 respectively. The other three research institutions being cut were established between 1944 and 1997.
The NFU has joined the calls to reverse these cuts but is also looking for more investment in agricultural research.
“In a world increasingly fraught with uncertainty, rebuilding our capacity for public-interest agricultural research will provide Canada with the strategic autonomy to deliver security and confidence into the future,” an NFU press release reads.
Science-based departments
Federal departments that concentrate on scientific research are also seeing cuts. A number of employees at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Transport Canada (TC), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) have all received notices that their jobs will be affected.
PIPSC is saying that the cuts to science-based departments could weaken Canada’s ability to prevent disasters, respond to emergencies, and protect public safety and the environment.
“These are not abstract programs or administrative redtape,” said Sean O’Reilly. “These are the experts who prevent oil spills from becoming catastrophes, who ensure dangerous goods don’t explode on our railways, who make sure Canadians can trust weather warnings, and who protect species from extinction.”
In 2025, PIPSC released a report saying that Canada’s federal public science system is already strained. PIPSC found that only 6.5 per cent of federal scientists say their department has adequate research funding and more than a third of research labs are past their planned life cycle.
In the wake of this report, PIPSC called on the government to increase funding for federal science but instead, workers are seeing their jobs cut.
“Canadians have seen the cost of failing to invest in science, regulation, and oversight,” said Bryan Van Wilgenburg, President of PIPSC’s Applied Science and Patent Group. “The collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery, the Sydney Tar Ponds – Canada’s most notorious toxic waste site, and the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster that killed 47 people were not acts of nature. They were failures of oversight, investment, and evidence-based decision-making – exactly what these cuts are stripping away.”
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