Latest news with #public service
The Herald
5 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- The Herald
No lifestyle audits at National Treasury in past two years — here's why
No National Treasury officials were subjected to lifestyle audits in the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 financial years, says finance minister Enoch Godongwana. In a written reply to a parliamentary question by DA MP Hendrik Krüger, Godongwana said the public service and administration department provides guidelines for three progressive stages of integrity checks: lifestyle reviews, lifestyle investigations and lifestyle audits. 'Lifestyle review is the first test and assesses whether an official is living within their means, but it is inconclusive to confirm wrongdoing. Lifestyle reviews are conducted based on discrepancies or red flags identified during the financial disclosure period. 'Lifestyle investigation is the second test and serves to probe further the findings from a lifestyle review, to confirm undeclared sources of income and any wrongdoing. Lifestyle audit is the third test and is a more complex version of lifestyle investigation,' he said. In response to Krüger's question about the number of officials audited and the outcomes, Godongwana said lifestyle reviews were last conducted in the 2021/2022 financial year on two chief directors and one director. 'All three senior management service (SMS) members were cleared and no further steps were taken. No SMS members were referred for lifestyle reviews in 2022/2023 and 2023/2024.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Ottawa-Gatineau could see 24,000 public service job cuts by 2028: report
Ottawa and Gatineau will 'bear the brunt' of public service job cuts as the federal government looks to find $25 billion in savings over the next three years, according to a new report. Earlier this month, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali issued letters to cabinet, directing ministers to identify savings of up to 15 per cent in all federal departments. The directive applies to all Crown corporations, including the National Capital Commission and federal museums. A report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, released on Thursday, predicts a total of 57,000 full-time equivalent positions will be eliminated in the federal public service by 2028, with 24,421 full-time positions cut in the national capital region. 'Cities of Ottawa and Gatineau will bear the brunt,' says the report. 'While the service impacts will be felt across the country, almost half of the job losses will be in the national capital region of Ottawa and Gatineau.' The report, by David Macdonald, says the Canada Revenue Agency, Employment and Social Development (ESDC) department and Citizenship and Immigration will see the highest number of job losses. MacDonald says the federal government's new directive to find savings could result in the number pf positions eliminated at CRA increasing from around 7,000 already to a total of 14,277 positions cut. The report estimates the number of positions eliminated at Citizenship and Immigration will increase from 1,944 in 2025 to 3,847 jobs in 2028, while full-time job losses at ESDC will be 2,000 next year and 4,000 by 2028. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report suggests 2,878 positions could be eliminated at Public Works and Government Services, 1,900 FTE positions at Shared Services Canada and 1,928 jobs at the Department of Health by 2028. 'The Trudeau-era cuts have already generated substantial layoffs, but they are only the beginning. The Carney cuts are the second axe to fall, and the pain will be deep,' the report by Macdonald says. 'High quality service from a federal program will suffer. There will be fewer staff on the tax, EI and CPP call lines. Passport offices will lengthen wait times, which had been improving. Reducing staffing and service levels isn't the right way to pay for a major military build-up and middle- and upper-income tax cuts. The trade off just isn't worth the pain.' The report says 45 per cent of the job cuts would be in the national capital region. Ontario, excluding Ottawa, would see 7,812 jobs eliminated, while Quebec, excluding Gatineau, would see an additional 5,926 jobs cut. Federal unions have said they are gearing up to fight the proposed cuts to the federal public service. The Public Service Alliance of Canada held virtual town hall meetings this week to discuss the government's plan to find $25 billion in savings over three years and what that could mean for them. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) notes Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals ran on a promise of 'caps, not cuts' during the spring federal election. 'These aren't caps or 'efficiencies' – they're deep, dangerous cuts that put jobs and critical public services at risk,' PIPSC said in a statement on its website. 'What we're seeing is the most devastating attack on the federal public service in a generation – Harper-style austerity with a red logo slapped on.' PIPSC is vowing to launch a national advertising campaign and conduct 'ongoing advocacy' to fight the proposed cuts. Statistics released by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat show 357,965 people worked for the federal government as of March 31, down from 367,772 people in 2024. The Canada Revenue Agency saw the largest drop in employees, with 6,656 fewer employees at CRA. The last time the size of the federal public service didn't grow was in 2015, when the number of employees dropped to 257,034 from 257,138 in 2014. The public service workforce expanded from 257,034 employees in 2015 to 300,450 in 2020 and 367,772 employees in 2024. With files from CTV News Ottawa's William Eltherington
The Herald
17-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald
All members of cabinet to undergo lifestyle audits — Ramaphosa
Lifestyle audits are carried out to ensure the lifestyles of government employees are in line with their level of income. The director-general and the CFOs in various departments' audits are managed through the department of public service and administration. 'The limitation of the legal framework in conducting the lifestyle audits of the members of the executive and publishing them is a matter that is under consideration. Members are requested to voluntarily consent to lifestyle audits.' Political parties have long pushed for lifestyle audits. Recently, public works minister Dean Macpherson said he's conducting lifestyle audits on 400 'high-risk' officials in various departments. His department began the first audits in March and will finalise them in September, while the next batch will run from October to March 2026. 'In 2022/2023 we completed audits on 48 senior managers,' Macpherson said. 'We have now launched a wider process, focusing on 400 high-risk officials in finance, ICT, procurement, leases and projects. TimesLIVE
South China Morning Post
17-07-2025
- Climate
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong to issue T1 warning on Friday night as cyclone edges closer to city
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP's journalism by subscribing . New users who download our updated app get a seven-day free trial. The Hong Kong Observatory will issue the No 1 typhoon signal as early as on Friday night, with a possibility of raising the warning to No 3 on Saturday, as a tropical cyclone is edging closer to the city. According to the forecaster, the tropical cyclone to the east of the Philippines will enter within 800 kilometres (497 miles) of Hong Kong from Friday night to early Saturday, after which it will intensify and edge closer to the western coast of Guangdong province. 'Its associated strong winds and outer rainbands will also affect the territory gradually. There will be heavy squally showers and thunderstorms later on Saturday to Monday. It will be windy and seas will be rough with swells,' the Observatory said. The forecaster will assess the need to issue a higher warning on Sunday, depending on the distance between the tropical cyclone and the Pearl River Delta, as well as on the wind's intensity and conditions. Members of the public are advised to stay away from the shoreline and refrain from doing water sports.
ABC News
14-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
As federal parliament returns, here's what was promised to ACT residents in the election
Much of the federal election campaign in the ACT was focused on the Coalition's plan for cuts to the public service. Now that Labor has been re-elected, what exactly is the party promising for Canberra over the next three years? Parliament will resume next week, but the government's commitments will not require much in the way of legislation. For the most part, it is money on the table, from new civic infrastructure to improved health services. This is not necessarily an exhaustive list, but covers the main items announced in the lead-up to the election in May. The big ticket promise — unveiled at Labor's campaign launch — was the money to build a new aquatic centre in Commonwealth Park, making way for a new national convention centre on the current Civic pool site. Federal Labor has put up $100 million, about two thirds of which will go to the pool, with the remainder set aside for feasibility and design works on the convention centre. That commitment has been matched by the territory government, after ACT Labor made it the centrepiece of its own campaign launch in September last year. At the time, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he hoped the design work on the pool would be done by the end of 2026, with construction to commence shortly after. Since the new pool has to be finished before the existing site can be freed up, a new convention centre could still be a while away. The ACT's low bulk billing rate for GP visits was a key campaign issue, particularly when the Interchange Health Co-op went into administration. Labor pledged $3.8 million to keep it afloat, alongside $10.5 million to attract new GPs to three new bulk billing practices. The money for the ACT is on top of Labor's national commitments on Medicare, which it hopes will triple the number of fully bulk billing practices in Canberra. But while the government's national target is for 90 per cent of GP visits to be bulk billed by 2030, the ACT is unlikely to hit that figure. The party also responded to the potential closure of the Burrangiri Aged Care Respite Centre, by promising $10 million for more respite beds. Yet that commitment has become slightly less urgent since the election, with confirmation Burrangiri will stay open for another two years. Labor had also promised one of its 50 new Medicare urgent care clinics would be in Woden. Before the campaign proper kicked off, the government announced it would "finish the NBN." It pledged fibre-to-the-node connections for more than 600,000 premises by 2030, including about 97,000 in Canberra. Labor also put $3.5 million on the table for seven new crisis accommodation dwellings in the ACT, for people fleeing domestic and family violence. Later on, it offered localised commitments either side of the city: $1.5 million to upgrade Margaret Timpson Park at Belconnen; and just shy of $1 million to revitalise the Chisholm Cricket Oval.
