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OTTAWA - Civil servants at the federal Fisheries Department have been told their budget is being cut by $53 million as managers deal with last year's Conservative funding freeze in advance of deeper cuts to come.
Evidence of job losses across a number of federal departments is beginning to trickle out, with reports at Fisheries, Environment, Defence, the Bank of Canada and heritage institutions such as the National Gallery and the Museum of Civilization.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty retabled a budget Monday that was almost identical to the one he delivered just over two months ago before the minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper was brought down. Harper roared back with a majority election win and all eyes are now on the most opaque areas of the budgetary blueprint — cuts to government spending.
The Conservatives promised during the election to slash federal spending by $4 billion annually within four years, but no one has detailed what programs or services might come under the knife.
"Anybody who says you can't find money in Ottawa without cutting vital services to people simply is living in a fantasy world," Harper pledged on the campaign trail.
"That's not how government works. There are inefficiencies and it is your job to constantly find them."
Flaherty took a different tone Monday, saying "there's no question" programs will be cut.
"Governments are very good at creating programs, they're not so good at ending them," said the former Ontario finance minister who slashed provincial services during the late 1990s. "And not every program is designed to go on forever, otherwise government would continue to grow like topsy."
Flaherty said the details will come in next year's budget.
"We didn't book it because in my view it's not responsible to book savings until we can clearly say, 'Here is where the savings are.'"
NDP Leader Jack Layton responded that he'd hoped for more transparency.
"This government used to pride itself on being accountable, transparent, everything was going to be open, we'd all know what was going on," he said. "Well, it looks like billions of dollars of cuts are being hidden away."
This is not the Conservative government's first spending review. A two-year freeze on budgets announced last year has already taken a bite from several departments for 2011-12, although just how big is extremely difficult to gauge.
Previously announced cuts and freezes will total $1.8 billion in savings annually by next year, according to a report from the parliamentary budget officer.
Sources say employees at Fisheries were told last week their department is getting hit with $53 million in cuts, while Environment eliminated 50 contract positions, the Bank of Canada cut 33 workers and the National Gallery sent five curators packing.
Defence is poised to chop at least 2,100 positions over three years, according to media reports. Civilization has at least 10 positions on the block, say reports.
Former Treasury Board president Stockwell Day has said attrition from retiring public servants will account for virtually all the job reductions. But public service sources say the government counts everyone eligible to retire as part of the attrition number. When eligible individuals opt not to retire early, then layoffs ensue.
On Monday, finance officials would only say that every federal department has been asked to lay out two spending options — one that cuts five per cent from its departmental budget and one that cuts 10 per cent.
Treasury Board will look at the proposals and decide where the axe falls, with some departments taking a full 10 per cent hit and others being left untouched.
In the speech from the throne last week to open the 41st Parliament, the government said only that it would undertake a strategic review of spending while "preserving transfers to individuals and provinces for essential things such as pensions, health and education."
Evidence of job losses across a number of federal departments is beginning to trickle out, with reports at Fisheries, Environment, Defence, the Bank of Canada and heritage institutions such as the National Gallery and the Museum of Civilization.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty retabled a budget Monday that was almost identical to the one he delivered just over two months ago before the minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper was brought down. Harper roared back with a majority election win and all eyes are now on the most opaque areas of the budgetary blueprint — cuts to government spending.
The Conservatives promised during the election to slash federal spending by $4 billion annually within four years, but no one has detailed what programs or services might come under the knife.
"Anybody who says you can't find money in Ottawa without cutting vital services to people simply is living in a fantasy world," Harper pledged on the campaign trail.
"That's not how government works. There are inefficiencies and it is your job to constantly find them."
Flaherty took a different tone Monday, saying "there's no question" programs will be cut.
"Governments are very good at creating programs, they're not so good at ending them," said the former Ontario finance minister who slashed provincial services during the late 1990s. "And not every program is designed to go on forever, otherwise government would continue to grow like topsy."
Flaherty said the details will come in next year's budget.
"We didn't book it because in my view it's not responsible to book savings until we can clearly say, 'Here is where the savings are.'"
NDP Leader Jack Layton responded that he'd hoped for more transparency.
"This government used to pride itself on being accountable, transparent, everything was going to be open, we'd all know what was going on," he said. "Well, it looks like billions of dollars of cuts are being hidden away."
This is not the Conservative government's first spending review. A two-year freeze on budgets announced last year has already taken a bite from several departments for 2011-12, although just how big is extremely difficult to gauge.
Previously announced cuts and freezes will total $1.8 billion in savings annually by next year, according to a report from the parliamentary budget officer.
Sources say employees at Fisheries were told last week their department is getting hit with $53 million in cuts, while Environment eliminated 50 contract positions, the Bank of Canada cut 33 workers and the National Gallery sent five curators packing.
Defence is poised to chop at least 2,100 positions over three years, according to media reports. Civilization has at least 10 positions on the block, say reports.
Former Treasury Board president Stockwell Day has said attrition from retiring public servants will account for virtually all the job reductions. But public service sources say the government counts everyone eligible to retire as part of the attrition number. When eligible individuals opt not to retire early, then layoffs ensue.
On Monday, finance officials would only say that every federal department has been asked to lay out two spending options — one that cuts five per cent from its departmental budget and one that cuts 10 per cent.
Treasury Board will look at the proposals and decide where the axe falls, with some departments taking a full 10 per cent hit and others being left untouched.
In the speech from the throne last week to open the 41st Parliament, the government said only that it would undertake a strategic review of spending while "preserving transfers to individuals and provinces for essential things such as pensions, health and education."
