'In many communities, local Parks Canada sites are cornerstones of the economy'
Three in four Parks Canada employees in New Brunswick have been told their jobs could be affected by federal job cuts.
Of the agency’s 221 workers in the province, 167 received letters saying their positions are impacted by workforce adjustment, Parks Canada spokesperson Meaghan Bradley told CBC News on Nov. 5, 2026.
Nationally, 2,917 letters went out as the agency moves to eliminate the equivalent of about 500 full-time positions.
The round began on Oct. 20, 2026, when interim president and CEO Andrew Campbell announced a second phase of cuts, as HRD Canada reported in its coverage of the Parks Canada workforce adjustment putting nearly 3,000 jobs at risk.
What WFAs mean for New Brunswick workers
Workforce adjustment (WFA) is the federal process for managing staff when work is discontinued, changed or relocated. The Union of National Employees (UNE) told members in an Oct. 23, 2026, update: “Affected letters are not termination notices.” It added that such a notice signals a position may no longer be required.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) said 2,671 of its members at Parks Canada received notices, more than half of the agency’s workers. “Workers are anxious about their futures,” said Alex Silas, trustee for the UNE, in the union’s Oct. 23 statement.
Chris Di Liberatore, PSAC’s Atlantic regional executive vice-president, told CBC News some New Brunswick employees received their letters five minutes before their last shift of the season ended.
Why job losses in rural parks hit harder
Parks Canada’s own fact sheet describes Kouchibouguac National Park as an important economic driver for Kent County, N.B. The park employs 90 people, plus 35 summer students, and generates 22 additional full-time jobs indirectly.
“In many communities, local Parks Canada sites are cornerstones of the economy,” said Barry Tchir, national president of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees, in the PSAC statement. “Cut those jobs, and workers may have no choice but to leave.”
Danielle Dugas, mayor of Beaurivage, N.B., which borders Kouchibouguac, told CBC News that “everyone is on edge.” Jim Campbell, mayor of Fundy Albert, N.B., near Fundy National Park, said the area offers little work beyond seasonal tourism and fisheries. He added: “We’ll wait and see. Kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Atlantic Canada faces deep federal job cuts
New Brunswick’s exposure is the steepest reported in the region. In Newfoundland and Labrador, 142 Parks Canada staff – more than half the provincial workforce – have been told their jobs are at risk, VOCM reported on Oct. 30, 2026. More than half of Prince Edward Island’s Parks Canada workers face similar uncertainty, CTV News reported on Nov. 1, 2026.
The cuts stem from the federal Comprehensive Expenditure Review (CER), under which Parks Canada must save $144.9 million over three years, according to its 2026–27 departmental plan. They are part of a wider contraction in which the federal public service shed more than 12,000 jobs in a single year, based on Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) data.
PSAC said the national round brings to almost 18,000 the number of its members issued WFA notices since January 2025. For HR leaders, the pattern mirrors the Canada Revenue Agency’s plan for up to 260 job cuts: broad notice lists, weeks of uncertainty, then narrower decisions.
