OTTAWA — The federal public service has shed more than 23,000 staffers over the last two years, says Canada’s parliamentary spending watchdog. A new online tool released by the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates there were 344,970 federal employees in the second quarter of this year, down 6.5 per cent from two years ago. The departments and agencies that gained the most staff over the last two years were National Defence, the Communications Security Establishment, Elections Canada, Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada and the Canadian Space Agency. The departments that lost the most employees were the Canada Revenue Agency, Employment and Social Development Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada. Parliamentary budget officer Annette Ryan says her office created the tool to help parliamentarians and Canadians hold the government to account on its Budget 2025 commitment to reduce the size of the federal public service by 10 per cent by 2028-29. The federal government launched an early retirement program as part of its efforts to cut the number of public servants and, as of this month, more than 9,400 applications were found to have met the criteria. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2026. Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press
