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CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Canadian government plans to reduce size of public service through attrition: Lightbound
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, Government Transformation Minister Joël Lightbound says the 'intention' is to rely on retirements and resignations. 'As the prime minister has mentioned, our intention is to go through attrition in terms of reducing the size of public service,' Lightbound said, when asked whether the government's ongoing spending review will lead to job cuts. The minister made the comments during a question-and-answer period with reporters following the announcement of a new Cultural Heritage Science facility on Thursday. Lightbound added it's 'too early for (him) to tell' whether the savings will mean cuts, but repeated that the 'intention' is to rely on attrition. Ahead of an expected fall budget, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali issued letters to Prime Minister Mark Carney's cabinet last month, asking them to present plans by the end of summer to find day-to-day operational savings. Ministers were told to find 7.5 per cent savings for the 2026-27 fiscal year that begins on April 1, 2026, followed by 10 per cent in 2027-28 and 15 per cent in 2028-29, CTV News reported at the time. 'As the prime minister mentioned during the campaign, we're capping this size of the public service,' Lightbound said, when asked about a new report by the CD Howe Institute stating that the federal spending review will generate less than half of the savings needed to maintain a good fiscal path. 'Our goal is to reduce it through attrition, but there are also other ways to where we can make savings in terms of the federal government standpoint,' Lightbound said, pointing to the adoption of new technologies as a way to improve government efficiency. The CD Howe Institute report states the spending review should be broadened to all spending — including to measures delivered through the tax system — if it hopes to make meaningful reductions. According to a report in late June from left-leaning think tank the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Liberal government's plan to find billions of dollars in operating efficiencies would require a 24 per cent cut in public service spending. The report states it could amount to 'the worst spending cuts in modern history,' and adding it will 'inevitably diminish the quality of public services.' With files from CTV News' Rachel Aiello and Stephanie Ha
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
PM's staff say search is on for a local office that meets Carney's security needs
Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives at his office across the street from Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney's office says work is 'well underway' to find a local constituency office for the prime minister that meets his security requirements and is conveniently located for residents of his Nepean riding. As first reported this week by the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, Carney still doesn't have his own constituency office more than 100 days after the spring election. The PMO says that until the local office is set up, residents of Nepean can access federal services through Defence Minister David McGuinty's office, which is in the neighbouring riding of Ottawa South. Carney will be the last member of his own cabinet to list a local riding office in the House of Commons directory. Constituency offices act as a sort of doormat to democracy, allowing residents to connect with their local elected representatives. Members of Parliament employ local staff at these offices who can help citizens navigate government bureaucracy to access federal services. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2025. The Canadian Press
CBC
4 hours ago
- CBC
Former justice minister Irwin Cotler calls on Israel to end war, starvation in Gaza
Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler has joined thousands of Jews calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war and starvation in Gaza. The longtime human rights activist is a staunch supporter of Israel and has faced death threats from Iran over his support for the Jewish state and democracy worldwide. He has signed an open letter saying Netanyahu is jeopardizing peace at home and abroad. "The policies and rhetoric of the government you lead are doing lasting damage to Israel, its standing in the world and the prospects of secure peace for all Israelis and Palestinians," the letter reads. "This has severe consequences for Israel but also for the well-being, security and unity of Jewish communities around the world." The letter, organized by a group called the London Initiative, calls Israel's aid restrictions on Gaza "a moral and strategic disaster" that hands a "propaganda victory to Hamas" and undermines the important work of countering Hamas and Iran. "We do not deny the despicable role of Hamas in stealing aid and preventing its distribution, but nor can we reject the evidence of our eyes and ears as to the extent of the human suffering and the role of your government's policies in it," the signatories argue. The letter also calls out Israel's failure to suppress settler violence, which it says has helped fuel the current "diplomatic tsunami" of criticism from Israel's historical peers. "If Israel's military, when given the bold order by you, can send a missile through a window in Tehran to take out an Iranian general with unerring accuracy, it surely has the ability to maintain order in the West Bank, prevent Jewish extremist violence, protect Palestinian civilians and apply the law," the letter says. The letter also calls out rhetoric used by Netanyahu's cabinet ministers that it describes as "a moral abomination and a chilul hashem — a desecration of Jewish values and Israel's founding principles." It cites the example of Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, who said his government is "erasing Gaza" and that the territory will be entirely Jewish. Netanyahu governs with a coalition that includes Jewish supremacist parties which have cited religion to advocate for policies widely seen as ethnic cleansing. "Members of your government have used language of racism, hatred and incitement without censure," the letter reads. "Any opportunity to release all the hostages must be seized, and prioritized above appeasing extremist members of your coalition." The letter warns that this "language of incitement" erodes efforts to strengthen Jews' ties to Israel and is "undermining Jewish communities as we face a surge in antisemitic, antizionist hate." The letter was also signed by Canadian philanthropist Charles Bronfman, one of the founders of the Birthright program, which sends Jewish youth on trips to Israel. Its listed signatories also include prominent Canadian professors and volunteers with projects like the New Israel Fund and the Herzl Project, though it notes that the signatories are speaking as individuals and not on behalf of their institutions.
