Maple Leaf DOGE vs. the Canadian State
Instead of building a resilient economy to meet the challenges of the present economic “rupture,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals are turbocharging austerity and gutting the capacity of Canada's federal public service.
If the Carney government stays the course, workers and the broader Canadian public may soon be facing cuts that rival the austerity measures of the 1990s. (David Kawai / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Earlier this year, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney went viral after declaring the supposed end to American economic hegemony in Davos, Switzerland. The current “rupture,” Carney said, necessitated rethinking the economic relationships that “middle powers” like Canada have with stronger nations like the United States.
At home, Carney’s Liberals claim to be “Trump-proofing” the economy to protect Canadian jobs threatened by US tariffs and Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policy. At the same time, however, the minority Liberal government is engaged in the biggest attack on federal public sector workers since the devastating austerity of the 1990s.
Over the past year, thousands of “workforce adjustment” notices have been sent to federal public servants as part of the government’s plan to cut more than 40,000 positions and slash spending by 15 percent.
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