August 22, 2025
SHARE
Short Cuts
#1215 Are Carney’s Cuts “DOGE” Canada?
Tristan Capacchione
Senior Production Supervisor
Lucie Laumonier
Productrice
imogen sayers
Audio Editor
max collins
Director of Audio
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher

In July, Mark Carney made it clear to public workers that there would be a tightening of the belt. Ministers were told to save 15% from their departmental budgets over the next three years. The deadline to do so is next week, August 28th.

 

What that looks like in practice is pretty bleak. By 2028, it has been estimated that over 57,000 full-time equivalent workers will be laid off. Who will be laid off? And is this type of austerity bad governance?

 

Meanwhile, in Ontario, Doug Ford is mandating a return to office for all workers, five days a week, come January 2026. Who will this affect?

 

Host San Grewal and reporter Stacy Thomas break it down.

 

Host: San Grewal

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate Producer and Fact Checking), imogen sayers (Audio Editor), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor)

Guest: Stacy Thomas

Photo: Creative edit by Tristan Capacchione, with photos from Gage Skidmore and Simon Dawson

 

Further reading:

 

Sponsors:

oxio: Head over to canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free!

BetterHelp: Visit https://BetterHelp.com/canadaland today to get 10% off your first month.

 

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.

 

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

More from this series
Critics of the editorial argue that the National Post crossed the line, advocating for violence against Lewis. 
October 9, 2026
Quebec has elected Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and the Parti Québéois to a minority government, whose  platform includes a referendum on sovereignty. 
October 7, 2026
October 2, 2026
Mark Carney sat down for a wide-ranging hour-long interview with the New York Times.
September 30, 2026
The announcement that the EU is “opening the door” to Canada for associate membership overshadowed how the story initially broke. 
September 25, 2026
Apocalyptic A.I. headlines are all over the news, following a former Anthropic employee’s whistleblowing on the threat to humanity posed by out of control A.I. systems. 
September 23, 2026
Jan Wong joins Jesse Brown to talk about journalistic approaches to covering historical tragedies, and to reflect on 9/11’s impact. 
September 18, 2026
A report in the Wall Street Journal suggests that Carney’s is pushing for Canada to join the EU as an “associate member.” Carney says he’s pursuing an “unique alliance,” rather than membership. 
September 16, 2026
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
Short Cuts