‘Everyone should feel the hit’: ministerial offices and PMO should be cut, too, say some leading public policy experts

Prior to the 1980s, federal cabinet ministers made do with a handful of staff, but that has jumped to between 15 and 25 exempt staffers over the last 40 years, says professor Donald Savoie.

Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali at a committee meeting this month on Parliament Hill. According to the Treasury Board's website, 17,217 public service positions, including 704 executive-level jobs, are set to slashed. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY ABBAS RANA

February 23, 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government has eliminated thousands of positions from the public service, but no cuts have been made to political staff in ministers’ offices or in the Prime Minister’s Office. Some with expert knowledge in the mechanics of government...

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