A survey was conducted on behalf of the Canadian Tax Federation by Leger in July 2025. The poll claims that a majority of Canadians want cuts to the public service, and that a majority believe that service quality has not improved despite the growth in public service. PIPSC has responded with criticism to the survey, and some additional methodological concerns are outlined below.
Representativeness matters
The online survey was conducted on a sample of 1,553 Canadian adults. The selection of these adults was based on non-probability sampling (a web panel in the case of this survey). The use of this type of sampling means that the probability of Canadian adults being selected into the sample is unknown or non-random. Simply put, this type of methodology suffers from biases, and it is both impossible and irresponsible to claim with certainty that these results accurately represent the views of Canadians.
Biased questions lead to biased results
The phrasing of the questions asked provides some information about the numbers and expenses related to the growth of the bureaucracy and is phrased as “According to government records, the federal government added 99,000 additional employees since 2016, which contributed to an increase in the overall cost of the bureaucracy by more than 70 per cent.” The respondents are then asked their opinions on the size and cost of the bureaucracy. Good surveys depend on neutral questions that do not bias the responses. If the survey aimed to provide context and information to respondents, it could have also included why this growth took place. Accompanying information, such as the growth of the Canadian population since 2016, the gaps left behind by cuts from the Harper government, or the trends of the proportionate growth of the public service as a percentage of employment, was not provided. Leading questions or questions that provide incomplete information cannot be expected to produce unbiased results.
Not supported by other data available
The sampling and design of the questionnaire lead directly to the concern that the results presented in the survey are not representative of Canadians in general, but of individual respondents who took part in the survey. The claim that a majority of Canadians want cuts to the federal public service does not match up to other data available. For example, other polls show that the Canadian population is still largely supportive of Prime Minister Mark Carney, who ran his campaign on “caps, not cuts” to the public service.