FIRST READING: Carney plan to reduce civil service will cost $1.5 billion, save $82 million

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Rather than conducting mass layoffs of the Canadian civil service, the Carney government is resurrecting a 1990s strategy of reducing the public sector by paying them handsomely to leave.

However, despite costing $1.5 billion, it will deliver a federal payroll that will only be about $82 million cheaper per year. As such, it could presumably be up to 18 years until the program breaks even.

According to federal budget documents, the proposed Early Retirement Incentive will cost an average of $300 million for five years, all to deliver “ongoing savings of

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