Federal Ministry of Agriculture announces job cuts

The federal department specifies that research centers in Guelph, Ontario, Quebec and Lacombe, Alberta, as well as four satellite research farms in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, will close their doors.

To date, approximately 665 positions have been eliminated and nearly 1,050 employees received layoff notices on Thursday.

“No site closures are planned immediately, and any reduction in scientific activities will be subject to a rigorous decision-making process which could take up to 12 months,” the ministry said in a statement released Friday. It is therefore too early to determine and communicate the final impact on the workforce. »

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) added that, like other federal departments, these job cuts come after identifying savings over three years, while remaining focused on its core mandate.

The research centers in Quebec, Guelph and Lacombe did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.

Lacombe County expressed its deep disappointment, in a social media post, with the federal government’s “sudden” decision to close the Lacombe Research and Development Center and urged Ottawa to suspend the decision.

“For more than a century, this research station has been a pillar of agricultural progress in Western Canada,” said John Ireland, reeve of Lacombe County, in a publication Friday.

“It is difficult to replicate 119 years of research history, specialized land and long-term testing elsewhere. Once this site is lost, it will be lost forever,” he said.

The county said more than 100 center employees and their families are affected by the closure, as well as their industry partners.

The Lacombe center studies animal husbandry and meat production, which, according to its website, contributes to economic stability and reduces the environmental impact of animal production. It also supports Canada’s fresh meat processing sector “by providing healthy, high-quality fresh meat with good shelf life, primarily beef and pork.”

The Guelph research center states on its website that it “focuses its research and development on food safety and value-added food in order to foster a profitable agri-food sector in Canada.”

The research carried out at the Quebec center focuses in particular on the sustainability of the agricultural sector in cold and humid climates.

Several unions say nearly 10,000 federal public servants they represent received layoff notices last week, warning them their jobs could be eliminated as part of Ottawa’s efforts to cut program spending and administrative costs by about $60 billion over the next five years.

Ottawa has announced that it wants to reduce the size of the public service to a “more sustainable” level and plans to reduce the number of public service jobs by around 40,000, compared to the peak of 368,000 reached in 2023-2024.

The latest federal budget specifies that this approach will involve a “restructuring of operations and a consolidation of internal services”. The Public Service Alliance of Canada announced that more than 5,000 of its members received a transfer notice in recent days.

They include employees from Global Affairs Canada, Transport Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Health Canada.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food indicates on its website that it was created one year after Confederation, in 1868.

“Today, the Department is helping to create the conditions necessary for the profitability, sustainability and long-term adaptability of the Canadian agricultural sector,” we read.