Analysts expect Ottawa to feel some of the worst pains caused by the federal government's 2012 budget.
With the nation's Capital being home to tens of thousands of public servants, many say most of the 19,200 jobs put on the chopping block will be Ottawa-based.
About 12,000 of those jobs will be straight-up layoffs. The others will be eliminated through attrition.
Unions representing public servants can expect to hear as early as Friday whether or not some of their members still have jobs.
Even though it will cost the government $900 million in severance packages to get rid of all those public servants, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty insists it will still help save $5.2 billion in the long run.
Flaherty says the cuts are modest and draws attention to what other governments have done in the past.
"Hardly in the league of what Paul Martin and Jean Chretien did in the 1990s," says Flaherty.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada's National President, John Gordon, says "the devil is always in the detail and we didn't get much detail."
Gordon calls the cuts devastating and suggests it is difficult to say just how devastating it is without having looked at the fine print.
Some analysts, like Brian Card, suggest there may not be need to panic. The jobs won't be gone overnight and will be filtered out over time to minimize immediate impact.
Economist Ian Lee agrees saying "the sky is not falling" and that cuts could have been much worse.
"19,000 over three years, that's six or seven (thousand jobs) a year." He says it will barely show on the unemployment numbers.
In fact, some sectors will get a boost.
The budget earmarks $400 million for start-up financing. It is expected to help Ottawa's slumping high-tech industry.
On top of this, the National Research Council in Ottawa will get $110 million each year to help small and medium-sized businesses create jobs.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says it will also be up to the City to work with the private sector to ensure local residents will have a source of income.
But with federal agency's like the National Capital Commission taking a $1.8 million hit, public servants don't feel safe and have started to change their economic behaviour.
"I'm hearing that people are already nervous... not going out there buying that new car, that new house, you're dishwasher whatever. People are nervous, because they don't know. They talk to their manager; they don't know what's going on … a lot of uncertainty," says public servant Daniel Kinsella.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Catherine Lathem and Karen Soloman
