CRA Tells 735 Their Jobs Are at Risk as Ottawa's Payroll Shrinks Again

The Canada Revenue Agency told 735 employees this week that their positions may be affected, and it expects up to 260 of them to leave. In Ottawa, the tax agency is shrinking its workforce while its contract talks with the union that represents the people who collect the tax sit at impasse.

CRA Tells 735 Their Jobs Are at Risk as Ottawa's Payroll Shrinks Again

Ottawa, Canada — The Canada Revenue Agency told employees on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, that it would "make workforce adjustments" at headquarters in Ottawa and at regional offices across the country.

The Letters Went Out on Wednesday

The notices landed midweek, and the numbers behind them are stark. A total of 735 executive and non-executive employees were told their positions may be affected, and the agency says up to 260 employees are expected to leave as the adjustments proceed. The CRA also provided "guarantees of continued employment" to 110 affected employees, "primarily in compliance." The Union of Taxation Employees, a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said 534 of its members at the agency received workforce adjustment notices. Adam Jackson, the union's national president, told the Ottawa Citizen the letters were "widespread" and went to the assessment benefit services branch, the commissioner's office, human resources, compliance and other branches. He said letters to those in the agency's contact centers were "certainly not as widespread there, if at all." The agency says it expects services to Canadians "will continue without disruption."

What the CRA Actually Said

CRA spokesperson Etienne Biram confirmed the scope in a statement. "Both executives and non-executive positions are impacted," Biram said. "To support continued employment where future opportunities can be reasonably assured, the CRA provided guarantees of continued employment to 110 affected employees." Biram framed the changes as structural. "The organizational changes the CRA put in place help align programs, services and organizational structures with current and future business needs," he said. "They support the agency's transformation and its priorities: service excellence, revenue generation, and operational efficiency." He added that the agency "recognizes the uncertainty these changes create for employees and is committed to supporting them throughout this process." Biram also pointed to the agency's savings record: "The CRA has made significant progress in reducing expenditures and finding efficiencies. These efforts have been essential to improving our financial position, largely achieving our expenditure targets and meeting our savings commitment."

A Pattern, Not a One-Off

This is not the agency's first round of adjustments this year. On March 31, 2026, the CRA informed employees of workforce adjustments, and the union said approximately 479 notices went out across four branches, linked to the sunsetting of several federal tax programs including the Federal Fuel Charge, the Digital Services Tax, the Canada Carbon Rebate and the Underused Housing Tax. In April, the agency said up to 210 employees would leave, with adjustments "mainly linked" to the winding down of the Federal Fuel Charge, and more than 450 employees received notices. The agency's payroll shows the direction of travel: 52,499 employees as of March 31, 2025, against 48,774 a year later, a fall of 3,725 or about 7 per cent. Its 2026-27 departmental plan sets out $1.2 billion in planned spending reductions over three years under the comprehensive expenditure review.

The Same Review, at Parks Canada

The tax agency was not alone in this round of the comprehensive expenditure review. Parks Canada opened a new workforce adjustment period on October 20, 2026, posting an internal organizational update saying 2,917 employees would receive a letter that week informing them of their status. The agency's memo said most letters refer to "affected employee" status, which is not necessarily an end of employment, and that a limited number receive an "opting" letter. A Voluntary Departure Program was to open to affected employees upon receipt of their notification letters, and the alternation process remains open. CBC reported that Parks Canada expects to eliminate the equivalent of 500 full-time jobs across the country, and PSAC counted 2,671 of its own members among those notified. The restructuring follows a review requiring the agency to absorb nearly $145 million in reductions over the next three years.

Eighteen Thousand Names on a Tracker

The union is keeping count. PSAC's workforce adjustment tracker says that since January 2025 almost 15,000 of its members had received workforce adjustment notices, and that this week's announcements bring the cumulative total to over 18,000. More than 1,400 of those are CRA workers. The figure is the union's own member count, and it is not the same measure as the wider public service tally. By August 2026, more than 25,000 federal employees and 1,146 executives had received workforce adjustment notices, BNN Bloomberg reported, a figure covering the whole public service rather than one union's membership. PSAC national president Sharon DeSousa said the pattern is clear. "Workers at CRA are already overworked and understaffed," she said. "Cutting more jobs at CRA isn't how you improve service - it's how you increase delays and frustrations of people across Canada when they're trying to access services."

A Public Service Being Told to Shrink

The backdrop is a federal payroll in retreat. Treasury Board Secretariat figures reported by CBC show the federal public service dwindled to about 345,000 employees across Canada as of late March 2026, after peaking in 2024 at just under 368,000. The Ottawa-Gatineau region had 154,000 federal employees in 2025; by 2026 that had shrunk to about 146,000, a decrease of around five per cent. As part of the 2025 budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney's government pledged to cut the workforce by 4.5 per cent, or 16,000 jobs, within three years, with a broad plan to condense the public service to around 330,000 employees by the end of the 2029 fiscal year. The government says the target reflects typical turnover rates, retirements and voluntary departures. The Canada Strong Budget 2025 committed the federal government to cutting 28,000 positions and finding $60 billion in savings by 2028-29.

The Table Is Set for a Collision

The cuts are landing while the bargaining table is unsettled. PSAC announced nationwide strike votes for 120,000 federal public service workers, with voting running from November 16, 2026, to January 22, 2027. The groups voting are Program and Administrative Services, Technical Services, and Education and Library Science. PSAC's own FAQ states that the three groups together represent 115,000 federal public service workers, a figure that sits alongside the release's larger count. The union said the votes respond to Treasury Board's "insulting wage proposal," a push for concessions, and refusal to address critical workplace issues. PSAC says the employer tabled a wage offer averaging less than 1 per cent per year in April, a pay increase of just $58 per month over the life of the agreement, and is pushing to remove workforce adjustment and the dental care plan from collective bargaining. The Globe and Mail reports that if a strike vote passes, the union would be in a legal strike position for 60 days.

What the Union Says About Your Phone Call

PSAC's argument is aimed squarely at the service counter. "When you cut the job, you cut the service," the union says, warning that cuts mean fewer resources and less time to support people, heavier workloads and more pressure to rush through support calls. PSAC warns families, seniors, students and small businesses looking for support "will instead be stuck with longer wait times, delays to accessing vital resources, and frustrating call loops with chatbots." DeSousa put it in personal terms: "We want to negotiate a fair deal, but by pushing pay cuts and refusing to discuss any of our key issues, Treasury Board has given us no choice but to take strike votes." Jackson, the tax union president, said the agency ultimately should have "more employees" providing services to Canadians, "not less," adding: "This is saving money on the backs of our members, which we fundamentally oppose."

What Is Not Established Here

Several things are not settled by the record. The 735 employees received notices; up to 260 are expected to leave. Notices are not terminations, and no specific number of actual departures has been confirmed. The two counts in circulation are not in conflict: 735 is the agency's total including executives and non-unionized staff, while 534 is the number of PSAC-UTE members the union identified. Which individual positions sit in which branch is not public. No source identifies which named programs or services will be cut, and PSAC says the employer has not explained what specific programs or services will be affected. The CRA says there will be no service disruption; the union says there will be impacts. Neither side has published wait-time data for this round, so no measured change in service levels can be asserted, and no dollar figure exists for savings from these departures. Nor is any outcome at the table known.

What to Watch in the Next Six Weeks

The calendar now carries much of the story. The federal budget is set to be tabled on November 5, 2026, and it will show whether the expenditure review accelerates or eases. Strike voting opens November 16, 2026, and runs to January 22, 2027, covering the three Treasury Board groups, while the CRA group sits on a separate track. The CRA's own collective bargaining page dates the PSAC-UTE impasse declaration to February 6, 2026, and records that the union requested a conciliation process from the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board. Mediation is set for November 24-25, 2026, according to UTE bargaining bulletins. The agency's contact centers remain under a 100-day service-improvement plan led by Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. Whether the letters become departures, and whether the table produces a deal, will define the winter.

By Jessica Ali, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: Canada Revenue Agency; Public Service Alliance of Canada; Union of Taxation Employees; Parks Canada; CP24 / CTV News Ottawa; Ottawa Citizen; CBC News; Human Resources Director Canada; The Globe and Mail; Treasury Board Secretariat figures as reported by CBC News. Photographs: Canada Revenue Agency signage in Ottawa (file photo, June 2024), The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick; Parks Canada uniform, Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press; downtown office workers, Radio-Canada/Simon Lasalle. Covers on Global 1 News are composited in-house from source photography.