Public servants under pressure to enact ‘delivery-and-execution agenda’ in 2026 with job cuts on the horizon

Public servants, who are grappling with the looming prospect of job cuts and a full-time return to office, will be expected to deliver on ambitious files key to Carney’s 2026 plans, namely trade negotiations, defence procurement, building homes and managing large-scale projects.

These plans coincide with a recently released [report on how to improve productivity among the civil service](https://www.canada.ca/en/government/system/government-wide-reporting-spending-operations/committees-task-forces/working-group-public-service-productivity-overview/working-group-public-service-productivity-response.html#toc2). The report gives 19 recommendations, some of which include “corrective action for poor performance by individuals at any level,” singling out “underperformers” for the Privy Council’s clerk’s annual report on the civil service and appointing senior officials to manage “the general management and ongoing reform” of the civil service.

Yet the Treasury Board has signalled it does not plan on implementing all the recommendations of the report. The aforementioned three recommendations were rejected by the Treasury Board.

!ping Can