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New data suggests the federal bureaucracy is cutting executives at all levels to the same degree, an approach that one former public servant says ignores the ballooning number of senior-most positions over the past decade in an effort to “hit a numerical target.”
A Hill Times analysis of the four departments cutting the most executive positions shows reductions to the top and bottom ranks are evenly spread at around 10 per cent, offering a window into how job cuts are rolling out across the top cadre of the federal public service. The data shows a concentration of job losses among lower-level executives, like directors and executive directors who represent much larger pool to make sweeping cuts, even though the higher ranks have been growing at a faster rate over the last decade.
“The numbers are staggering,” said Eugene Lang, an academic and former public servant and political staffer. “You’re going to find more positions in those lower level executive ranks, obviously. But the biggest growth has happened in the more senior levels.”
Since 2015, the overall population of executives in the core public administration has risen by 52 per cent, from 4,958 to 7,555 as of 2025, according to the government’s latest data, outpacing the public service population growth of 42 per cent. The increase to executives hasn’t been evenly distributed, though, with those classified in the top spot (EX-05) growing from 75 such positions in 2015 to 134 as of 2025, an increase of nearly 79 per cent; the next level grew by 39 per cent, while the bottom three classifications grew by 52.5 per cent over the same time period.
Over the next three years, the government plans to shed about 1,000 jobs from the managerial class as part of the Carney government’s comprehensive expenditure review, with Treasury Board reporting that more than 1,000 people have already been notified their jobs may be at risk.
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Senior management is broken up into five classes, ranging from EX-01 jobs that generally carry director titles; EX-02, who are often senior directors; EX-03, typically directors general or executive directors; and EX-04 and EX-05, who are assistant deputy minister levels. Executive pay begins at $137,524 for EX-01 and tops out at $260,719 for EX-05, not including performance bonuses. Atop them are associate deputy ministers and deputy ministers, who are further classified into four levels of their own and not included in this analysis.
Lang, the acting director at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University, has tracked the ratio of executives in the public service, and says growth in the highest management ranks has been “unbelievable.”
So far, the most executive cuts are coming from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), Global Affairs Canada (GAC), and Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED), representing 215 jobs cut from 2,309 executives at these departments.
Of that number, 97 per cent represent jobs from the bottom three executive classes, or 206 people. That represents about nine per cent of those lower-level executives at the four departments, while the top two tiers are cutting nine people from 87, or about 10 per cent.
Tasked with an across-the-board goal of reducing the executive ranks by “a nice round number,” cutting junior-ranking executives is an easy way to hit that target, Lang said.
“If you’re trying to hit a numerical target, you’re going to fish in the water where there are the most fish,” he said. “And the most fish are in those EX-01, EX-02, EX-03 roles.”
Assistant deputy ministers are typically in charge of branches within their departments, he said, and are in charge of personnel levels within their branch.
“ADMs will give advice on who to cut, and I don’t imagine ADMs are going to advise on cutting ADMs,” he said.
Departments target junior ranks
ESDC, which had 819 executives as of March 2025, plans to cut 98, but it only provided detailed information on 39 executive cuts, saying the rest will be eliminated by attrition. PSPC plans to cut 68 of 533 executives; GAC aims to cut 60 out of 613; and ISED plans to cut 46 out of 308.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is planning to cut 43 of 323 executives, but when asked to provide a breakdown of the number of the type of executive positions being cut, DFO declined to comment, citing employee privacy.
Of the 39 ESDC executives on the chopping block, all but four job cuts are located in the lower ranks. The department’s staff population totalled 34,514 as of March 2025, but recent departmental plans project that falling to 23,525 by 2028-29, representing a nearly 30-per-cent decline.
PSPC, meanwhile, says all 68 executive cuts are happening between the EX-01 to EX-03 levels. The department had 18,689 full-time equivalent roles as of 2025, and expects to reduce that number by approximately one-third, projecting 12,929 by 2028-29.
“With respect to the number of senior level executive positions, PSPC is considering how best to optimize business lines and reporting structures to support the government’s transformation agenda,” a PSPC spokesperson told The Hill Times. The department had 533 executives on March 31, 2025. Of these, 516, or 97 per cent, were at the lower-ranking EX-01 to EX-03 level; 17, or three per cent, were at the assistant deputy minister level.
Similarly, of the 46 positions expected to be cut at ISED, all are being cut from the three junior classifications, though the department told The Hill Times two roles at the assistant deputy minister level were reduced by attrition in that time period. ISED had slightly more than 4,000 full-time equivalents as of 2025, and its departmental plan forecasts an approximate 10 per cent drop in its ranks by 2028-29.
At Global Affairs Canada, 57 positions are expected to be cut in the lower rank out of a population of 591 employees, and three are forecast to be cut from the 36 at the assistant deputy minister levels. The department overall had more than 13,000 full-time equivalents as of 2025-26, and expects to reduce that by approximately 10 per cent over the next three years.
While not included in this analysis, it appears deputy ministers and associates are not entirely spared from the squeeze, with the latest DM shuffle handing double or and even triple duties to some.
Last summer, as plans to cut jobs in the public service were being drawn up, The National Post reported on a memo from the government’s top HR executive who said there is an “overage” of assistant deputy ministers compared to their more senior counterparts.
“There is a need to take additional proactive measures to address the ADM overage situation and contain future growth of the ADM cadre,” chief human resources officer Jacqueline Bogden wrote in the memo.
Bodgen’s memo said all departments were now required to get permission from her office before promoting a new person into an assistant deputy minister role in order to “contain” growth, and her office was also “reviewing” some existing positions.
‘Aim for pruning with shears, not a chainsaw,’ says Wernick
Andrew Griffith, a former public servant and past director general in what was then called Citizenship and Immigration Canada, said it’s concerning that the job cuts appear to be targeting the most junior executives. He said it’s ultimately up to departments to decide which roles to cut, but concentrating cuts in the lower ranks of executives might create a leadership vacuum down the road.
“It’s valid to signal that this could be an issue for the future, in terms of cutting of the pipeline,” he said.
Michael Wernick, a former clerk of the Privy Council and current Jarislowsky Chair in Public Management at University of Ottawa, has argued for a “de-layering” approach to remaking the cluttered ranks of the public service.
“I think the problem to be dealt with is more clutter of these half-step positions,” Wernick said in an interview, referring to roles like assistant associate deputy minister or assistant director. “One way to consolidate, or simplify, is to get rid of some of those half-step or intermediate positions.”
That would require job descriptions to be expanded and work to be delegated, and Wernick noted the government “isn’t asking for less work” amid broad cuts to every level of the public service.
“I don’t disagree with the intention,” Wernick said of the cuts, “but you want to do it in a mindful way; a way that really thinks through the work, and the teams, and the scope of the jobs.”
The size of the managerial class is a “constant challenge” in both the private and public sectors, Wernick said. Too few, and things don’t get done. Too many, and processes get cluttered.
“I think they’re right to think about it, but I would prefer they were doing a kind of de-layering at the same time,” he said.
It would be “simplistic” to assume that job cuts should be equal across every level, Wernick said, as “you want to aim for pruning with shears, not a chainsaw,” and each department operates differently.
“There’s an argument that many people have made, that if you simply have fewer layers, you would increase the pace and tempo,” Wernick said. “It’s not a magic bullet by any means, but I tend to agree with that.”
mglass@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
