Public sector cuts will slash front-line services: analysis

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty takes part in a TV interview after tabling the federal budget in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday March 21, 2013. (Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

OTTAWA -- The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says public service spending cuts have mostly focused on service delivery, contradicting the Harper government's assurances that cuts would spare front-line resources.

The agency predicts the public service will lose 28,700 jobs between March 2012 and March 2016.

It says the ranks of the federal public service will be down eight per cent by 2016, although the 2012 budget predicted a reduction of only 4.8 per cent.

The analysis by senior economist David Macdonald says Human Resources and Skills Development will take a 24 per cent hit to its workforce, losing 5,700 jobs by 2016.

Macdonald says Statistics Canada will take the largest proportional loss, losing a third of its staff, while Veterans Affairs will cut almost a quarter.

National Defence and the Canada Revenue Agency are scheduled to slice 3,577 and 2,491 positions respectively, but the proportional impact of those reductions represent a relatively smaller four per cent and six per cent drop respectively.