The federal government shouldn’t be cutting public sector jobs in their quest to reduce costs, according to Megan Leslie.

At the conclusion of an NDP Atlantic Caucus meeting yesterday, the Halifax MP said cutting public sector positions will be more costly in the long run.

“There are ways to be more efficient and more streamlined than just attacking government workers,” Leslie said. “Really this comes down to our services, our health, our safety.”

Leslie was responding to a report from the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on the federal Conservatives’ plan to find $4 billion in annual savings by 2014-15.

The CCPA estimates this “strategic review,” along with similar cost-cutting measures undertaken in 2007 and 2010, will result in the loss of more than 60,000 public sector jobs across the country. It also estimates, under the deepest cut scenario, that unemployment in Atlantic Canada will rise to 10.4 per cent, up from 9.9 per cent.

“I think that we need to be strategic in where we do find efficiencies,” said Leslie. “I don’t think it’s natural just to say ‘let’s cut jobs,’ because it will end up being more expensive in the long run.”