Nearly half of Canadians think that the government is too big.
According to a Leger poll commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, 47% of Canadians believe the number of federal government employees should be reduced.
Between July 26 and 28, Leger asked over 1,600 random Canadians over 18 what they think should happen to the increasing size of government bureaucracy.
“Since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took power in 2015, the federal government has hired an additional 108,000 employees, which is a 42% increase in less than a decade,” The poll said to Canadians before asking their opinion. “For comparison, Canada’s population grew by 14% during that time. There are now 367,772 federal government employees.”
Over a quarter, 29%, of Canadians think the government ought to maintain its federal employment levels, while 7% believe the bureaucracy is not big enough.
When those who responded “don’t know” were asked if the federal employee count should be raised, decreased or maintained, 56% of those who had an opinion said the size of the state should be reduced.
Over a third of those with an opinion wanted to maintain the number of federal employees, and only 9% wanted to see that number increased.
NDP voters were the most likely to want the public sector to grow, with 15% of them saying there should be more federal employees. However NDP voters were more likely to want the size of the bureaucracy to remain the same.
NDP voters were also the most likely to not know what they thought about the size of the state, with 23% saying, “I don’t know.”
Liberal voters were the most likely to want the status quo to be maintained, with 45% saying there shouldn’t be more public sector employees, but no one should lose their job at this point. 36% wanted to reduce the numbers.
Green Party voters were nearly as likely. 42% want to shrink the size of government employees and 40% agreed that the size should be maintained.
Nearly three-quarters, 71%, of Conservatives feel that the government is too big and that the public sector needs to be reduced. 19% said it should stay the same and 4% said it should grow.
When those who don’t know are removed from the equation, 75% of Conservatives think the government should begin reducing the number of public sector employees, and 50% of Liberal voters think it should remain the same size, leaving 41% of Liberals saying there are too many government employees.
“Taxpayers paid for tens of thousands of extra bureaucrats, more than one million pay raises, and hundreds of millions in bonuses in recent years, and the government still can’t deliver good services,” Franco Terrazzano, federal director for the CTF, said in a news release.
“Canadians can’t afford to pay higher taxes, and the government is up to its eyeballs in debt, so it’s time for Ottawa to take air out of its ballooning bureaucracy.”