OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the federal government to rein in the size and cost of the bureaucracy following today’s Parliamentary Budget Officer report showing labour costs increased by 31 per cent over two years. 

“The Trudeau government needs to take some air out of its ballooning bureaucracy,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the CTF. “Struggling taxpayers can’t afford more bureaucrats with bigger salaries and bonuses.”

“Personnel spending over the past two years increased by 30.9 per cent, from $46.3 billion in 2019-20 to $60.7 billion in 2021-22,” according to today’s PBO report. “The public service expanded by 31,227 full-time equivalents.”

The PBO report also notes that, “Compensation per full-time equivalent increased from an average of $117,497 per FTE in 2019-20 to $125,300 in 2021-22.”

Given some of the current demands from government union negotiators, the PBO estimates “the additional cost to the government would be $16.2 billion over 2023-2024 to 2027-28.”

A total of 312,825 federal employees received at least one pay raise during the pandemic. The federal government handed out $559 million in bonuses since the beginning of the pandemic. 

“Taxpayers can’t afford to pay billions more to fund a bloated bureaucracy,” Terrazzano said. “Members of Parliament must speak out and reject the unreasonable demands coming from government union negotiators.”