The shape of federal job cuts to come

With all Canadian government departments ordered to come up with plans for budget cuts of five or 10 per cent, Ottawa is waiting to see how the Conservatives arrive at the $4 billion in annual cuts they’ve promised to deliver. Now, from veteran Ottawa Citizen defence-beat specialist David Pugliese, a glimpse of the tense process underway inside the bureaucracy. Briefing documents show that the Department of National Defence will offer employees being cut a job elsewhere, or "a cash payment of up to 52 weeks’ pay based on employee’s years of service in exchange for resignation," of a similar payments combined with "up to $10,000 for reimbursement of tuition, books and equipment." An earlier internal report suggested 2,100 civilian jobs in Defence would be slashed over three years, out of almost 27,000 current jobs.

Ottawa Citizen