National Post (National Edition)
We can cut federal spending
Most Canadians would likely not be surprised to learn that there are way too many civil servants in Ottawa. But they would probably be shocked to learn just how top-heavy the federal bureaucracy really is.
That's one of the eye-opening bits of information revealed at last week's hearing of the House of Commons standing committee on government operations and estimates featuring Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux.
According to Giroux, federal bureaucrats can report to as many as seven different levels of management within various government departments. When questioned whether departments should look at streamlining their management structures, Giroux responded that “there's room to reduce.”
The federal government is looking to find $15 billion in savings over the next five years, but even if it succeeds, that represents less than one per cent of total spending. Surely there's a lot more fat, duplication and waste that can be cut out of the budget without laying off any civil servants.
For the past several years, I've consistently advocated for government spending cuts of five per cent per year over a period of 10 years, which would end up reducing government overhead by half within a decade. I've also called for the creation of a task force comprised of retired business leaders who could assist in determining where the government could cut spending.
The Fraser Institute published a report last month that showed how the federal government could balance the budget within a year simply by reducing nominal program spending by 4.3 per cent between 2024 and 2025 — an amount very close to what I've proposed.
But it's not just the cost of excessive bureaucracy that Canadians object to. It's also the red tape and regulations that come with it, which end up making everything slower and more complicated than necessary.
The federal civil service now spends over $67 billion per year in salaries, benefits and pensions. Not only are there more civil servants than ever, there are also more bureaucrats taking home six-figure salaries.
According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, over 110,000 federal public servants, or one-third of the federal workforce, made in excess of $100,000 in 2023 — over 50 per cent more than the average Canadian makes.
When you add in pensions, paid time off and other benefits, the average compensation for a full-time federal civil servant is just over $125,000, according to a parliamentary budget officer report published last year.
In short, not only is our bureaucracy growing by the day, it's also becoming more expensive.
If the public sector keeps expanding at this pace, there's not going to be much of a private sector left to foot the bill. A recent report out of Spain revealed that one out of every three people in that country either works for the government or lives off government assistance, a total that was attributed to “increasing levels of welfare dependency and a bloated public sector.”
How long before Canada's in the same boat?
Despite the swelling size of our civil service, it's important to note that bureaucrats should never be made the scapegoat for the financial mismanagement created by governments. It's not their fault that spending has gotten out of control. And while bureaucrats typically take the brunt of public anger over government red tape and over-regulation, it's our elected officials who oversee and manage the bureaucratic system.
Regardless, the problem posed by our ever-expanding bureaucracy needs to be dealt with immediately. It's been put on the back burner for far too long.
In addition to reducing government spending by five per cent per year for 10 years, the government should implement an immediate and permanent hiring freeze until the public sector payroll shrinks to a more sustainable level.
If the government official responsible for keeping an eye on our budget says there's room to reduce the size of our bureaucracy, then we should start reducing. Not only will we save billions of dollars, but Canadians might finally get a break from overzealous bureaucrats meddling in every aspect of our lives.