The government’s plan to reduce the size of the public service through attrition is “highly unlikely” to be enough to meet the fiscal targets it outlined in the election, according to interim parliamentary budget officer (PBO) Jason Jacques.
“For the order of magnitude that you’re looking at, it would be highly unlikely that you’d be able to close a deficit or reach a number that big without the path going through personnel costs, so without some sort of reduction or substantial changes in the composition of the public service,” Jacques said in an interview on CTV Power Play with Vassy Kapelos on Tuesday.
Despite warnings from experts that the federal government will have to make deep cuts to the public service if it hopes to meet its promises to reduce operational spending, the prime minister most recently insisted the plan is to rely on retirements and resignations.
The civil service is a very important LPC vote bloc.
