Bureaucracy costs going up $10 billion this year: PBO

OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to cut the federal bureaucracy following a Parliamentary Budget Officer report projecting costs to increase by more than $10 billion this year.

“Carney has repeatedly told Canadians he’s going to spend less, but the PBO projects the cost of the federal bureaucracy going up again this year,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Carney needs to get serious about cutting the bureaucracy because taxpayers can’t afford to pay billions more for paper pushers in Ottawa.”

Carney said his government would “spend less,” while Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said, “We need to bring back the civil service to a more sustainable level.”

In contrast, the PBO’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook shows the cost of the federal bureaucracy continues to increase.

The cost of the federal bureaucracy will increase to $79.4 billion this year, up from $69.2 billion last year, according to PBO projections.

While costs dipped down last year, the federal bureaucracy will cost taxpayers more this year than it did during former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s last year in office in 2024-25, even after accounting for inflation.

The PBO projects bureaucracy costs will continue to increase and reach $86 billion in 2030.

This follows years of ballooning bureaucracy costs in Ottawa. The cost of the federal bureaucracy increased 80 per cent between 2015 and 2024, according to the Public Accounts.

“The bureaucracy ballooned over the last decade and the government admits Canadians are paying too much so the cost of the bureaucracy should be going down, not up,” Terrazzano said. “Carney needs to shrink the federal bureaucracy to stop borrowing money and provide Canadians with the tax relief they need.”

Polling shows taxpayers are paying more but getting less. Half of Canadians say federal services have gotten worse since 2016, despite the massive increase in the bureaucracy, according to a Leger poll. Most Canadians support cutting the size and cost of the bureaucracy, according to the poll.

For more information or to schedule interviews, please contact:

Franco Terrazzano
CTF Federal Director
Phone: 403.918.3532
Email: fterrazzano@taxpayer.com