Cutbacks are on the heels of Treasury Board’s vow to trim the public sector
Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) will be cutting 2,100 jobs over the next three years, according to documents acquired by The Ottawa Citizen. The paper says that the cutbacks will be done through attrition and that some public servants would be transferred to other jobs within the department.
The paper also says that vice-chief of defence staff, Vice-Admiral Bruce Donaldson, plans “at least a five per cent reduction” in the number of contractors each year over the next three years.
It is expected that the upcoming budget will have measures to reduce federal program spending, which is when these cuts could be officially announced. Last week, the new Treasury Board President, Tony Clement, vowed to cut back on Canada’s public service sector in order to tackle the national deficit, which is projected to be $29.6-billion. Clement indicated that he will come up with $4-billion in annual savings and that he wouldn’t shy away from making cutbacks to areas that hadn’t seen cutbacks in years.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget is scheduled for a June 6 release.
The Ottawa Citizen report indicates that after the proposed reductions, there will still be 24,790 full-time public servants at DND, which operates offices across the country.
