Nearly 90 per cent of the jobs eliminated in the federal public service over the past year were permanent positions, according to the parliamentary budget watchdog. The Parliamentary Budget Office launched a new federal employment tracking tool on Tuesday, saying it will help parliamentarians and Canadians better understand changes to the federal public service. The Canada Strong Budget 2025, released in November, outlined a plan to cut the size of the federal public service by 28,000 positions by 2029. According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, there were 344,970 employees in the federal public service in the second quarter of 2026, down 9,505 employees from the second quarter of 2025. A total of 8,438 positions cut in the federal public service were permanent jobs, accounting for 90 per cent of all jobs eliminated by the government. There were also 118 term positions, 269 casual jobs and 641 student positions cut in the public service between 2025 and 2026. Of the 344,970 employees in the federal public service as of the second quarter of 2026, 86 per cent of employees (297,926) were permanent positions. The Parliamentary Budget Office says Employment and Social Development Canada saw the largest number of jobs cut, with 3,221 fewer employees in the department in the second quarter. There were 990 fewer employees at Public Services and Procurement Canada, 776 jobs cut at Health Canada and 707 positions eliminated at Environment and Climate Change Canada. According to the federal employment tracking tool, the Department of National Defence added 3,203 employees between the second quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, while the Communications Security Establishment saw an increase of 306 employees. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat reported there were 345,282 employees in the federal public service at the end of March, down from 357,965 jobs in March 2025. Early retirement As part of the federal government’s plan to cut 28,000 positions, early retirement packages were offered to thousands of public servants. According to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, 10,006 applications were received by the July 24 deadline. As of Sept. 8, 9,438 applications were approved for the early retirement incentive package, which allows employees to retire with an “immediate pension based on years of service, with no reduction for retiring early.” The government received applications for early retirement from 1,552 employees at the Canada Revenue Agency, 1,053 employees at Employment and Social Development Canada and 764 applications from staff at the Department of National Defence. With files from The Canadian Press
