In a statement to CTV News on Monday, Public Service Alliance of Canada National President Sharon Desousa called Carney’s comments about attrition “flat out misleading and ignore the hard truth facing Canada’s public services.”

“Thousands of permanent public service workers have already been told their jobs are being cut – not through retirement and voluntarily leaving the public service as the prime minister claims, but through direct layoffs,” Desousa said, adding “The federal government’s austerity agenda is lazy, reckless, short-sighted – and puts the entire country at risk.”