Privy Council spending on yoga lessons and limos sparks outrage amid cuts

The Privy Council Office’s spending on a Hatha Slow Flow yoga teacher, limousines and other outside contractors has turned into a test of where staff wellbeing ends and waste begins. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says the federal office that supports the prime minister and cabinet spent $17,446,103 on professional services in 2025, even as Canadians faced a stubborn cost-of-living squeeze.

The sharpest line item for many readers was $12,900 paid to a yoga teacher described as a Hatha Slow Flow instructor, located nearly two hours from Ottawa. Alongside that were $20,400 paid to Ottawa Executive Limousine, $1,300 to a self-described productivity ninja, $3,975 to a supplier of coins, swords, plaques, crests and related specialty items, $4,665 on artwork, $136,290 on hotel accommodations and $386,700 on furniture. The watchdog also said the office spent about $641,400 on audiovisual consulting services while maintaining nearly $1 million a year in in-house multimedia staff.

That spending sits awkwardly beside the department’s own staffing picture. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says about 320 Privy Council Office employees worked in communications, marketing, financial, strategy and research roles similar to the consultants being hired from outside. Franco Terrazzano, the federation’s federal director, argued that Canadians should not be paying bureaucrats and consultants to do the same work twice.

The Privy Council Office’s own planning documents say it has been under pressure to cut. Its 2024-25 Departmental Plan said it was implementing Budget 2023 reductions, with $3.93 million in planned savings in 2024-25, $5.486 million in 2025-26 and $7.616 million in 2026-27 and after. The office said those cuts would come from right-sizing organizations, streamlining management, reducing discretionary travel, trimming professional services and eliminating other spending not directly tied to its mandate.

That mandate is broad and central to Ottawa: the Privy Council Office advises the prime minister, the deputy prime minister and the minister of finance, supports cabinet decision-making, and helps ensure government is safe, secure, fair and democratic. Its 2024-25 Departmental Results Report showed 1,333 full-time equivalent staff and total actual spending of $251,744,189, underscoring how large and central the office is inside the federal machine.

The controversy lands as John Hannaford’s office pushes a modernization agenda under Prime Minister Mark Carney, with public-service renewal and efficiency now part of the political pitch. Against that backdrop, yoga classes can look less like a workplace perk and more like a symbol of a government still struggling to prove that every taxpayer dollar is being spent with discipline.