Travel, hospitality, and personnel cuts, downsizing or closing missions all on the table, say former employees
As the government looks to tighten its belt in budget 2012, it could be choosing any of several approaches to cutting the foreign affairs department, including cutting cars, personnel, hospitality services or programming, as well as shrinking Canada’s diplomatic footprint, say former diplomats.
The government is on a mission to balance its budget by 2014-2015 and is doing a spending review that aims to find at least $4-billion in annual savings from $80-billion of direct program spending. This would mean about $11-billion in savings by 2015-2016.
The government’s departments and agencies have been asked to provide scenarios of what a five per cent or 10% cut to their spending would look like, and the results of the review will be released in budget 2012, coming February or March. But CBC News reported on Jan. 9 that the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is one of several departments to face an accelerated process that will find spending cuts crest higher, earlier.
So far, the government isn’t confirming that story, or much else about DFAIT cuts. A Treasury Board spokesperson wrote in an email that no decisions have yet been made. Read more here.
