On the heels of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first federal budget, USJE is preparing for a major campaign to protect the jobs of federal public safety personnel.
This is in light of the announcement earlier this year by the Treasury Board to implement a Comprehensive Expenditure Review. As of Tuesday’s budget, it was confirmed by the Minister of Finance that the intention is to cut up to 40,000 federal public jobs as part of this Review.
The majority of the departments and agencies that USJE represents have been mandated to find 15 percent in operational savings under the Comprehensive Expenditure Review. The only exception is Court Administrative Services. The RCMP, Department of National Defense and the Canadian Border Services Agency have been directed to find 2 percent.
With this in mind, most of USJE’s members will be directly impacted by these cuts through job losses, or the unfortunate reality that they will have to pick up the pieces with fewer staff available to do the work.
They will be realized by eliminating actual positions (via attrition or through Workforce Adjustment), early retirements, reducing resources or cutting programs that impact a department’s ability to meet its mandate, and/or making changes to front line working conditions (i.e. policies, procedures etc.).
“When we talk about cuts to public safety personnel, it means that the crucial work that Canadians rely on to keep them safe is harder to accomplish. Ultimately, federal public safety personnel are being asked to do more with less,” notes USJE National President David Neufeld.
“Whether you are a federal parole officer, case review assistant for the Parole Board of Canada, or clerk assisting legal teams prepare criminal cases for federal court, the work doesn’t stop because of federal budget cuts. The demands on the criminal justice system are intensive and growing. When you cut federal public safety personnel, workloads go up, stress increases, and public safety infrastructure is weakened,” added Neufeld.
“Public safety cannot – and should not – be the collateral damage of this new federal budget.”
That is why in the lead up to this federal budget, USJE has already been mobilizing at work sites across the country to ensure that the public and our members understand the negative impact of these cuts. Departments and agencies have been put on notice that every cut, every policy change, and every employee not replaced will be highlighted by USJE.
USJE continues to extend invitations to Members of Parliament across party lines to visit relevant work sites within their regions, and appreciates the effort many have made already.
Further, USJE has developed a National Budget Campaign Action Plan to resist the cuts and defend its members’ work through strategic political engagement and member mobilization across the country. This includes planned meetings with the federal Public Safety Minister, Members of Parliament, and senior government representatives.
“We know it is critical that USJE acts quickly to gather the most detailed information possible from the frontlines about the cuts that we know are coming. Working directly with our locals and members to get the clearest picture possible and communicating the impacts to decision-makers is imperative,” emphasized President Neufeld.
Regional Vice-Presidents, Local Executives and Workforce Adjustment Committees will collaborate, alongside members, to gather the most detailed information about how cuts will impact public safety.
This is why, over the next few weeks, USJE is strengthening its capacity to identify all of the details as they are made available about these detrimental cuts and ensure the information we are receiving is fulsome and accurate. USJE plans to highlight the impacts of these cuts to the federal Minister of Public Safety, MPs and other relevant stakeholders as necessary.
As part of the National Action Plan, USJE will also host a National Townhall on Tuesday, December 2 at 8 pm Eastern time to highlight with members its plan to fight back against the cuts. The Townhall will be recorded and made available to USJE members. Departmental Townhalls are also being planned for the Spring of 2026.
In the meantime, USJE is encouraging all of its locals to document the cuts, articulate the negative effects/impacts of the budget cuts at Local Labour Management meetings and Occupational Health and Safety Committees on a regular basis.
USJE’s Mobilization and Political Action Committees will also play a role to ensure that USJE is a strong advocate for the protection of public safety personnel and their work. We will be relentless in our defense of our members, and our commitment to keeping Canada safe.
USJE represents nearly 20,000 members across 18 departments and agencies, all of which uphold public safety and access to justice in Canada.