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The Department of National Defence wants to eliminate the positions of around 1,100 managers in the Ottawa area as it tries to create what it calls a “lean headquarters.”

The initiative, based on recommendations from former Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, now the Liberal MP for Orléans, is expected to take several years.

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The managers in question, both public servants and those in uniform, aren’t expected to lose their jobs. Instead, they would be moved to front-line positions or employment in priority areas.

DND estimates it has 5,200 “managers” as part of its headquarters in the National Capital Region. Under the plan, that number would drop to 4,087.

We have more people in Ottawa doing headquarters and headquarters-like activity than we have in the entire Royal Canadian Navy

DND spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier said that for the purposes of the initiative, the term “manager” was used in its most generic sense. It refers to any manager, military or civilian, at any level who supervises the work of subordinate staff, even a single person.