The Public Health Agency of Canada will cut around 320 jobs as it adjusts its workforce post-pandemic. The announcement follows a Liberal pledge to cut public service jobs.

PHAC will cut about 10% of jobs by fiscal year 2026–2027 to align with funding, reported the Epoch Times. A spokesperson wrote Tuesday that this maneuver reflects their focus on new government priorities.

Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to cut $25 billion from the federal public service over three years. He vowed yesterday to “spend less” without specifying cuts.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed Wednesday to cut Canada’s half-trillion dollar budget this fall.

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— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 11, 2025

Agency employment fell from 4,251 last year to 3,372 this year. This follows a jump in 2022 to 4,254 employees, up from 2,379 in 2019.

PHAC is "recalibrating" by re-prioritizing, streamlining, and discontinuing some programs. This is separate from the federal government's expenditure review to cut public service spending before the fall budget.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne requested cabinet colleagues reduce departmental budgets by 7.5% in fiscal 2026, 10% in 2027, and 15% in 2028. On September 4, he acknowledged "adjustments" were needed to reduce post-pandemic spending.

Champagne and Carney agree that government spending, which grew at an unsustainable rate of 7% annually (double the economic growth), needs to be reduced for a leaner, more efficient federal government.

Poilievre rips into the Carney Liberals for rolling out a half a trillion in new spending without a releasing an actual budget.

Carney's extra spending is "not for investments," Poilievre says, but for "bureaucratic administration and other high-priced consultants." pic.twitter.com/N89nxtOxzq

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) May 30, 2025

To return to pre-pandemic staffing levels, PHAC halted external hiring, ended most term employment, and implemented a "stop the clock" provision, preventing remaining term employees from accruing time towards indeterminate employment.

Cuts will primarily target younger workers, including those with casual employment.

“No decisions are being made lightly,” a PHAC spokesperson stated, emphasizing a renewed focus on “sustainability” and “public health impact.”

The health minister submitted the agency's expenditure review proposal in late August. No further details are available.

Bureaucracy booms, Canadians struggle under decade of Liberal rule: Franco Terrazzano

On Friday's episode of The @EzraLevant Show, Franco Terrazzano (@franco_nomics) of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) discussed how the number of jobs in the federal government has… pic.twitter.com/vbbQg3xle6

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) June 2, 2025

Recent job cuts at the Canada Revenue Agency, Employment and Social Development, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada foreshadow tens of thousands of impending job cuts across these three federal bodies alone.

Last year, 10,000 public sector jobs were cut, with a potential 7,000 more this year. The Budget Office expects a definitive answer in the fall budget.

A Leger poll for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation reveals Canadians also desire cuts, believing service growth hasn't matched bureaucratic expansion.

From 2016 to last year, the federal bureaucracy's cost to taxpayers surged 77%, from $40.2 billion to $71.2 billion, despite consistently missing over half of annual performance targets. In the same period, the federal government added 98,986 employees, reaching a total of 357,965 bureaucrats.

“It’s clear that adding more bureaucrats does not mean better services,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director.