Reducing Civil Service Workforce: Legault Proposes 2,000 Less Employees

Quebec's government is tightening its belt by shedding 2,000 civil servants and imposing a hiring freeze this year, aiming to cut expenses. While this isn't a blanket ban on hiring, as clarified by Sonia LeBel, the President of the Treasury Board, it means ministries can't bring in new blood from outside the state, except for a select few cases.

LeBel is under pressure to meet Prime Minister François Legault's goal of decreasing the public service by 2,000 positions from the current 80,000. Last year saw an increase of 1,684 employees, while the year before saw a surge of over 4,000. “The ministries have filled their coffers and their staff,” LeBel stated.

This move comes after Quebec's credit rating dropped, prompting Legault to announce that the state would need to be "more efficient." Additionally, ministries have been subject to other hiring restrictions due to the growing deficit over the past few months.

However, "exceptions" have been granted in the judicial system, health, and education networks. The state wishes to hire personnel in the health sector to reduce the reliance on private agencies and staff new facilities, such as retirement homes. In the school network, they're looking for teaching assistants, personnel working on the integration of young immigrants, university teaching staff, and personnel to coordinate internships in fields like nursing or facilitate digital transition.

In the parapublic sector, LeBel has set a maximum target of 1.6% growth in staffing, which corresponds to 8,452 full-time equivalent positions. The state employs 608,793 people, with 80,520 in the public service and 528,273 in the parapublic sector.

Critics have accused the government of expanding the state in recent years. In 2018, the Coalition avenir Québec had promised to eliminate 5,000 positions in the public service. However, a recent report by Le Journal de Québec revealed that the public service has increased by 17.4%, or 11,903 full-time equivalent positions.

LeBel argued that the government had kept its promise since it concerned a specific category of jobs: administrative posts. “The posts that were added are posts that provide services to the population,” she noted.

Telework, another hot topic, has been evaluated by the Treasury Board as having a "neutral" effect at best, and otherwise positive. However, the psychological health of the state's personnel, as revealed by a study published earlier this year, showed that over 58% of them reported experiencing high or very high psychological distress. LeBel attributed some of this distress to the aftermath of the pandemic.

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Quebec's President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, is facing pressure to reduce the public service by 2,000 positions, as per Prime Minister François Legault's goal, despite the hiring freeze.
The policy of shedding 2,000 civil servants and the hiring freeze doesn't apply to all sectors, as exceptions have been granted in the judicial system, health, and education networks, specifically for the hiring of personnel in the health sector, teaching assistants, university teaching staff, and personnel to coordinate internships.
In the parapublic sector, LeBel has set a maximum target of 1.6% growth in staffing, which corresponds to approximately 8,452 full-time equivalent positions.
Critics argue that the government has not been faithful to its promise of reducing the public service, claiming an expansion of the state in recent years, contrary to the Coalition avenir Québec's 2018 pledge to eliminate 5,000 positions in the public service.