The PBO’s take on public service bloat and staffing cuts

While the size of the public service is beginning to shrink after more than a decade of growth, the forecasted cuts still leaves the number of full time staff well above pre-pandemic levels, a new analysis shows.

A new report from Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux reports the number of full-time public servants has ballooned from 335,000 in In 2006-07 to 445,000 in 2024-25.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY RIDDHI KACHHELA

July 17, 2025

As Ottawa set out to trim the size of public service,

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