More than 9,100 federal public servants have applied for the government’s early retirement incentive program ahead of today’s deadline.
The final number of applications won’t be known until next week, according to the government.
The program was available to 68,000 public servants who were notified of their eligibility to retire based on age and years of service, without incurring a permanent reduction of pension payouts that’s typical of early retirement.
As part of the 2025 budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government pledged to cut the public service by 4.5 per cent, or 16,000 jobs, within three years. Some departments and agencies began their workforce adjustment (WFA) process before the retirement incentive received royal assent.
With only hours remaining before the deadline, Jason King, a senior policy analyst at the Public Health Agency of Canada, had filled out the application but hadn’t yet hit submit.
“For me, it’s been a lot of sleepless nights,” said King, a government employee since 2003. “It’s a really tough choice for a lot of public servants, including myself. We’ve been very passionate in our work and have made a lot of profound change.”
King is also a local vice-president with the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) at Health Canada. He said the ongoing reduction of the federal workforce is weighing on him.
“Oftentimes people say in any reduction process, whether it’s for WFA, whether it’s [the Conservative government’s Deficit Reduction Action Plan] or it’s other processes, that it is often the people who stay who are the ones that feel the largest impact.”
He said he’s considering his own mental and physical health, as well as the financial aspects of the decision.
Beth Newcombe, an employee with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s passport unit, submitted her retirement application earlier this week.
“It’s been a long time that we’ve been in this environment of … austerity and budgetary restraint and I just don’t see it ending any time soon,” explained Newcombe, who is also a union steward with CAPE.
Newcombe had been planning to retire at 55, but will now leave in November at 53. She said she fell within the “sweet zone” in terms of years of service and financial obligations.
But for some of her colleagues who still have kids in school or who carry a lot of household debt, she said early retirement remains out of reach.
Scott Wilson, also 53, is retiring from Environment and Climate Change Canada after a 24-year career. He said he’ll miss the challenges and diversity of the public service, but looks forward to more autonomy.
“One of the biggest draws is being able to choose what you do and for who — to have the opportunity to volunteer for a meaningful cause or do work on a pro bono basis,” he said.
He’ll retire in December and said he plans to spend the coming months trying to pass on his institutional knowledge to the next generation of public servants.
Sahir Khan, vice-president of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Democracy, said if the government doesn’t find the savings it’s looking for from the retirement incentive, it may open up another round of workforce adjustment.
“Part of the challenge to public servants themselves is, if you don’t take the offer that’s being presented, there’s a pretty good risk that the next offer, when they continue the reductions, may not be as generous,” Khan said.
“I’m more worried about individuals and the very difficult choices they have to make right now,” he added.
Khan’s institute has raised the concern that the retirement incentive program could affect the government’s ability to deliver on policy aims, and is calling for a more focused program review.
Khan pointed to increasing defence procurement, the U.S.-Canada trade war and artificial intelligence modernization plans as projects that might benefit the experience of employees who are retiring.
“Right off the bat, the people that are eligible [for early retirement] are the ones that kind of carry the knowledge of the government, that have the experience on transactions, programs, procurements over the years,” he said.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service and the Public Service Alliance of Canada have both complained to the federal labour relations tribunal about the early retirement program.
In a statement, the Treasury Board Secretariat said applications are reviewed to confirm whether each department can maintain service to Canadians, as well as their business and operational needs.
A spokesperson for the office of the Treasury Board president said the government is managing workforce reductions with “fairness and compassion.”
“As proposed in Budget 2025, workforce reductions will be managed, to the greatest extent possible, through attrition and voluntary departures,” said Mohammad Kamal. “We are encouraged by the level of participation in the program to date.”
As of July 21, the government has confirmed 6,581 employees have met the criteria for early retirement and 25 have been denied.
The final application statistics are expected next week and the final, actual number of these retirements in early 2027.
