Canada’s federal bureaucracy expanding rapidly at your expense

Why do we need 80 per cent more bureaucrats to regulate and centrally plan employment in Canada when total employment is only up 15 per cent?

The increased bureaucratization and socialization of Canada’s economy since 2015 is well illustrated by the Treasury Board of Canada secretariat’s new statistics on the federal public service. All across the economy there’s massive bureaucratic expansion to fulfill political demands while the private sector, which fulfills consumer demands for goods and services, is crowded out and its relative importance reduced.

There are now 39,089 federal employees at Employment and Social Development Canada, up 80 per cent from 2015. Meanwhile, total employment in Canada across all industries is up only 15 per cent. Why do we need 80 per cent more bureaucrats to regulate and centrally plan employment in Canada when total employment is only up 15 per cent?

Next, consider the agriculture sector. From 2015 to 2024, the headcount at the federal department of Agriculture and Agri-Food increased 11 per cent while total employment in agriculture fell 18 per cent. That’s 11 per cent more agricultural bureaucrats and central planners while the number of people actually producing agricultural goods is down 18 per cent.

Considering dairy in particular, there are now 75 people employed at the Canadian Dairy Commission, up 34 per cent versus 2015. Meanwhile the number of dairy cows in Canada as of 2023 (the latest year of available data) is only up two per cent versus 2015, and the number of farms that ship milk is actually down 20 per cent. So, 34 per cent more dairy bureaucrats versus two per cent more dairy cows and 20 per cent fewer dairy farms.

Similarly, the Canadian Transportation Agency’s headcount rocketed to 377 in 2024, up 20 per cent from the prior year and up 56 per cent since 2015. Yet since 2015, total employment in transportation and warehousing in Canada increased by a much more modest 17 per cent.

In 2024, a year with no federal election scheduled, there are 1,250 employees at Elections Canada, nearly double the headcount of 630 in 2015, which had a federal election. But while the number of Elections Canada employees has nearly doubled, the number of voters in Canada has not. From 2015 to 2024, Canada’s population increase is about 14 per cent.

Another example: Fisheries and Oceans Canada now employs 14,716 people, up 49 per cent since 2015, and Natural Resources Canada now employs 5,751 people, up 39 per cent since 2015. Meanwhile the number of Canadians employed in natural resources (more specifically, forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, and oil and gas) is actually down one per cent since 2015.

As of 2024, the federal department for Women and Gender Equality employs 443 people, up 382 per cent versus 2015. But if the number of women in Canada has gone up 382 per cent in the same time period, this is nowhere reflected in any of the population statistics published by Statistics Canada—a government agency whose own headcount as of 2024 is up 48 per cent since 2015.

And total employment in our federal public administration (and separate agencies) is up 43 per cent (from 257,000 to 368,000) from 2015 to 2024. So we’re not just cherry-picking.

But perhaps the most depressing statistic from the Treasury Board of Canada secretariat’s report is the headcount growth at the Canada Revenue Agency.

There are now 59,155 people employed at the CRA as of 2024, up 48 per cent since 2015—a stark reminder of this federal government’s enthusiasm for raising taxes and expanding government control.

Author:

Matthew Lau

Adjunct Scholar, Fraser Institute

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Trump puts all federal DEI staff on paid leave

Published on January 22, 2025

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From LifeSiteNews

By Emily Mangiaracina

Trump’s shuttering of federal DEI programs is in keeping with his promise to ‘forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.’

President Donald Trump has ordered all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff to be placed on paid leave by Wednesday evening, in accordance with his executive order signed on Monday.

The president pledged during his inaugural address to “forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based,” which is the impetus behind his efforts to abolish DEI programs that prioritize race and ethnicity above merit when hiring workers.

Trump’s Executive Order on Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing stated, “Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.”

“President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Tuesday night. “This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds. Promises made, promises kept.”

The Office of Personnel Management issued a memo to the leaders of federal departments instructing them to inform employees by 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday that they will be placed on paid administrative leave as all DEI offices and programs prepare to shut down, according to NBC News.

It is unclear how many employees will be affected by the erasure of federal DEI programs.

Diversity training has “exploded” in the federal government since Joe Biden took office in 2020, the Beacon noted, with all federal agencies having mandated a form of DEI training before he left office.

DEI initiatives have long been widely denounced by conservatives and moderates as divisive, but they have been coming under increasing fire for undermining the competence and most basic functioning of public institutions and private corporations, even putting lives at risk.

For example, some commentators have blamed growing – and at times catastrophic and fatal – airplane safety failures in part on DEI hires and policies. Upon the revelation that a doctor at Duke Medical School was “abandoning… all sort(s) of metrics” in hiring surgeons in order to implement DEI practice, Elon Musk warned that “people will die” because of DEI.

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Undemocratic tax hike will kill hundreds of thousands of Canadian jobs

Published on January 22, 2025

Todayville

From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

By Devin Drover

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is demanding the Canada Revenue Agency immediately halt enforcement of the proposed capital gains tax hike which is now estimated to kill over 400,000 Canadian jobs, according to the CD Howe Institute.

“Enforcing the capital gains tax hike before it’s even law is not only undemocratic overreach by the CRA, but new data reveals it could also destroy over 400,000 Canadian jobs,” said Devin Drover, CTF General Counsel and Atlantic Director. “The solution is simple: the CRA shouldn’t enforce this proposed tax hike that hasn’t been passed into law.”

A new report from the CD Howe Institute reveals that the proposed capital gains tax hike could slash 414,000 jobs and shrink Canada’s GDP by nearly $90 billion, with most of the damage occurring within five years.

This report was completed in response to the Trudeau government’s plan to raise the capital gains inclusion rate for the first time in 25 years. While a ways and means motion for the hike passed last year, the necessary legislation has yet to be introduced, debated, or passed into law.

With Parliament prorogued until March 24, 2025, and all opposition parties pledging to topple the Liberal government, there’s no reasonable probability the legislation will pass before the next federal election.

Despite this, the CRA is pushing ahead with enforcement of the tax hike.

“It’s Parliament’s job to approve tax increases before they’re implemented, not the unelected tax collectors,” said Drover. “Canadians deserve better than having their elected representatives treated like a rubberstamp by the prime minister and the CRA.

“The CRA must immediately halt its plans to enforce this unapproved tax hike, which threatens to undemocratically take billions from Canadians and cripple our economy.”