Layoffs could be on the table for public servants. Here's everything you need to know

financialpost.com:

The federal government is currently looking for ways to tighten its budget and curb the size of the public service. In order to do that, it’s undertakinga multi-billion dollar spending review.

Here’s what you need to know about the review and how it could impact federal employees.

The government is aiming to find and “refocus” $15.8 billion in savings by 2027–28 and $4.8 billion per year thereafter. While it first looked at reducing organizations’ spending on consulting and travel, departments and agencies are now being asked to find additional savings.

In Budget 2024, the federal government announced a second phase of the spending review process that would seek to achieve savings “primarily through natural attrition in the federal public service.” The budget said that beginning on April 1, 2025, federal departments and agencies would be required to cover “a portion of increased operating costs” through their existing resources.

At the time, the government said the public service population would decline by around 5,000 full-time positions over the next four years, and that this would be done through attrition and hiring freezes. Cutting the jobs of permanent public servants wasn’t part of the plan.

Treasury Board President Anita Anand had told the Ottawa Citizen that there should be no layoffs and little impact on public-service jobs despite the spending review, though some departments could see employees redeployed or lost through attrition.

But in early November, Treasury Board officials told public sector unions that term and casual employees could be cut and that layoffs for permanent employees could be on the table. 

As part of the spending review, Anand tasked departments and agencies with developing savings