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Canada Slashes 10,000 Federal Jobs

Canada’s federal government eliminated nearly 10,000 jobs over the past year, marking the first reduction in the public service workforce since 2015 and reversing a decade of rapid expansion under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The workforce dropped to 357,965 employees in March 2025 from 367,772 the previous year, a 2.6% decrease, according to Treasury Board data released Friday. The cuts represent a significant policy shift for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government after years of what critics called unsustainable growth.

The Canada Revenue Agency absorbed the largest share of job losses, shedding more than 6,000 positions. Federal agencies accounted for 72% of total cuts, while core government departments represented 28%. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada lost 1,944 employees, leaving it with 11,148 workers.

You can read more on the matter here.

What’s going on?

• Home Builder Charged After $37M Fraud Left Hundreds Without Houses (theDeepDive)

• Inside the $2-million loophole that lets corporations own pharmacies in Ontario (Globe)

• Liberal MPs Reject Rules Allowing Them to Vote Out Party Leaders (theDeepDive)

• Donald Trump lashes out at Harvard and says he could cut $3bn in funds (FT)

• Toronto Job Market Slumps in April with Loss of 27,700 Full-Time Positions (theDeepDive)

• Palestinian official says Hamas agrees to Gaza proposal, Israel dismisses it (Reuters)

• Cannabis Excise Tax Is Pushing Producers Towards Bankruptcy (theDeepDive)

• Russia Defies Trump With Largest-Ever Drone-and-Missile Attack on Ukraine (WSJ)

• Canada Maintains 25% Tariffs on US Precious Metals in Trade Retaliation (theDeepDive)

What’s the latest?

• Loblaw: Canadian shoppers may soon receive up to $25 from a $500M class-action bread price-fixing settlement involving Loblaw and George Weston. $404M will be paid in cash, while $96M accounts for gift cards issued in 2018–2019. Ontario residents will get 78% of the funds; the rest goes to Quebec. The settlement covers bread bought from 2001 to 2021, and a Quebec court will review the deal on June 16. Over 20 million people are eligible, with only 475 opting out.

• Nissan: Nissan reported a $4.5B loss for the fiscal year through March and is cutting 15% of its global workforce (about 20,000 jobs) and reducing plants from 17 to 10. The company is betting on its e-Power hybrid technology, already used in Europe and Japan, to boost North American sales without requiring EV charging. The upgraded e-Power will debut in the new Rogue model in the U.S. Analysts warn Nissan is at risk of running out of cash, with speculation it may sell assets like its Yokohama HQ.

• NVIDIA: Nvidia will launch a new AI chip for China in June, priced between $6,500 and $8,000, significantly less than the H20’s $10,000–$12,000. The chip, based on the RTX Pro 6000D, uses GDDR7 memory and avoids advanced CoWoS packaging to comply with U.S. export restrictions. Its bandwidth is capped at ~1.7 TB/s, just under the regulatory limit, compared to the H20’s 4 TB/s. Nvidia’s China market share has dropped from 95% to 50%, and it also wrote off $5.5B in inventory and lost $15B in potential sales due to the H20 ban.

• Stocks: European stocks rose and U.S. futures surged after President Trump delayed a planned 50% tariff on EU goods to July 9, calming trade war fears. The S&P 500 and Dow futures gained 1.3% and 1.1%, while Germany’s DAX rose 1.7% and France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.3%. Oil prices also increased, with U.S. crude at $61.96 and Brent at $64.61. Asian markets were mixed: Tokyo +1%, Seoul +2%, but Hong Kong -1.4%. Trump’s tariff threats have pressured stocks like Apple (-3%) and Ross Stores (-9.8%), while Intuit (+8.1%) and nuclear stocks rallied.

• Canada Post: Canada Post and its union will resume talks in the coming days, following a Sunday meeting where Canada Post took time to review the union's latest documents. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said the nationwide overtime ban remains in effect, despite ongoing negotiations. Canada Post’s latest offer includes pay increases and a fleet of part-time workers, but CUPW criticized the employer for rejecting a proposed two-week truce, citing the difficulty of reviewing a 700-page offer quickly. The expired contract and national overtime ban raise concerns over mail delivery delays, while a federal report warns that Canada Post is effectively “bankrupt.”

Avino Silver Q1 Earnings

The stock market and stuff

• Ivanhoe Suspends Guidance For Kamoa-Kakula Complex As Underground Ops Again Halted At Kakula (theDeepDive)

• Bell Removed From S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index Alongside Fiera Capital (theDeepDive)

• Trump media group plans to raise $3bn to spend on cryptocurrencies (FT)

• MicroStrategy Acquires An Additional 4,020 Bitcoin For $427.1 Million (theDeepDive)

• Barrick Says It Opposes Mali Government’s Attempted Takeover Of Loulo-Gounkoto (theDeepDive)

In the juniors

• Aftermath Silver Hits 1,174 g/t Silver Over 7.1 Metres Within Larger Intersection Of 322 g/t Silver Over 35.6 Metres (theDeepDive)

• SSR Mining Q1 Earnings: Costs Continue To Climb (theDeepDive)

• Calibre Mining Q1 Earnings: Problems At Valentine (theDeepDive)

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