Quebec ‘DOGE’: Conservative Party leader wants to cut 20,000 public service jobs

Quebec Conservative Leader Eric Duhaime comments on the Quebec government fall session at a news conference in Quebec City, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press) (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

Quebec Conservative Party leader Éric Duhaime says he’s ready to cut 20,000 public service jobs.

Duhaime held a news conference in Quebec City on Tuesday to present the results of a Pallas Data poll he commissioned on government waste.

According to the poll, 72 per cent of Quebecers believe that government spending is wasteful, and 68 per cent believe they pay too much tax for the public services they receive.

The Pallas poll also suggests that 63 per cent of Quebecers are in favor of reviewing all Quebec government and Crown corporation programs and spending to eliminate waste and unnecessary expenses.

Some 54 per cent of respondents would be in favor of reducing the size of Quebec’s public service, and 50 per cent would look favourably on the creation of a Quebec DOGE, i.e., an agency or ministry solely dedicated to eliminating waste in the public service, like the one headed by Elon Musk in the United States.

According to Duhaime, the time has come for an in-depth examination of the role of the “welfare state”: “The Quebec government has a duty to tighten its belt. Today, we can see that there is social acceptability. That’s what Quebecers expect.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 11, 2025.