When federal government job cuts hit close to home, Philippe Leclerc began planning his life as a restaurateur. Leclerc, 57, started working in the federal civil service in 2014 after he was recruited from the City of Regina. After completing a short-term project, he was made a full-time employee with the Treasury Board Secretariat. Since […]
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When federal government job cuts hit close to home, Philippe Leclerc began planning his life as a restaurateur.
Leclerc, 57, started working in the federal civil service in 2014 after he was recruited from the City of Regina. After completing a short-term project, he was made a full-time employee with the Treasury Board Secretariat. Since then, he’s spent the bulk of his public-sector career with Environment and Climate Change Canada in ministerial support and policy positions and most recently as a senior policy analyst with the Canada Water Agency since February 2025.
Working in the federal government fulfilled a childhood dream, Leclerc told OBJ.
“When I was a little kid, there was an exhibit on semi-trailer transport trucks. They took this exhibit around the country and they came to the small town I was living in. I remember going through it and it was the first time thinking, ‘Wow, I want to work on this kind of stuff.’ I wanted to work on big things for Canada,” he said.
However, he started getting nervous about his career last year. “Given what had been going on for most of the 2010s and early 2020s with a significant amount of hiring, the writing was on the wall that, at some point, no matter who was going to be elected (as prime minister), there were going to be some cutbacks,” Leclerc told OBJ.
As soon as a federal election was called, Leclerc said he started to weigh his options. Those considerations intensified in October 2025, when his team got a workforce adjustment notice.
“That’s when I really decided that I wanted to be in control of the process rather than let someone else decide for me that my position was going to be cut,” he said.
Once the government started accepting voluntary departures, Leclerc said he had just over a month to decide whether he wanted to leave. Near the end of that window, Leclerc submitted his letter. Voluntary departure applications would be reviewed by senior management and he would be notified if his application was approved.
“The thing is that, based on the rules, someone with more seniority could end up getting the package before me, so we had to wait until they’d gone through the whole review … To be perfectly honest, it was a pretty stressful situation, because you’re half in, half out and, even though you’re volunteering to go, you might still not get accepted.”
As senior management reviewed the applications over two months, Leclerc said his whole department was “on edge, wondering what the next steps were.” It affected productivity, Leclerc added, as many people dealt with the stress.
“I submitted my (letter) pretty much the last week, because I really wanted to make sure that this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to plan out the next few steps, which involved my family and how we were going to tackle this since there was going to be a gap between leaving and starting something new,” he said.
Even before submitting his letter, Leclerc had started working on what life would look like if he left the federal civil service.
“Working with the government was a dream job for me, so I really had to look at it and say, ‘Okay, I achieved this. What else do I want to do?’ I had always wanted to work for myself and food has always been important to me so that’s why I decided to go into the restaurant industry.”
Finally, Leclerc’s voluntary departure was accepted, and his last day on the job was April 16.
“I fulfilled one dream. Now I’m ready to chase another. This was an opportunity for me. Both my daughters are at university and college. Maybe this is a time to do something for me,” he said.
Intent on running his own restaurant, Leclerc thought about how he could actually achieve it.
“It had always been percolating in my mind, but when you’re starting cold there’s significant investments involved, not only in money, but in time. So exploring franchising gave me the thought that I would have central support, an established brand and processes, while reaping the benefits of being an owner,” he explained.
He applied to be a franchisee with different restaurant brands and heard back from Edmonton-based Press’d Sandwiches within three business days. “(They) provided me with a package to review more information about the franchise. I reviewed it and set up a call with them. About 10 days later, I was speaking with their CFO, who is in charge of their expansion.”
After two or three more calls with the corporate team, Leclerc knew his future was in franchising. “I had those calls with them before I handed in my departure letter. The calls went really well and it was kind of the last nail in the coffin so to speak,” he said.
Even while waiting to hear back from senior management, work was underway to move forward with the franchising process. “We spent most of March going over any questions I had, speaking about a location and the successes of other franchisees. I spoke with stores in Brockville, Winnipeg and Calgary.”
At the same time, Leclerc started to dive into the finances of running a business.
“I went through some of the government support for new business loans. Press’d gave me an overview, setting out all my expenses from electrical costs to labour costs. What that did was actually give me the numbers that I needed to go ahead and speak to a credit union to apply for a business loan. From March to mid-April, I also got myself a chartered accountant and a lawyer to help me review and incorporate the business.”
On April 25, Leclerc paid his franchise fee and officially became a franchisee. The next step? Finding a location.
Since the beginning of May, Leclerc has been working with Colliers to find a spot for Ottawa’s first Press’d location, but the process is taking longer than anticipated.
“Unfortunately, there’s a bit of a perfect storm happening. There’s a little bit of hangover from the pandemic and from builders being a bit shy to build new spaces. Then there’s some excitement around employees returning to their offices downtown.”
Having reviewed “hundreds of potential places,” Leclerc said he continues to look for the right fit. Still, he’s learning on the job when it comes to the minutiae of business in the private sector, from commercial real estate to financial planning. With his voluntary departure package paying for location costs, Leclerc said he wants to get his money’s worth.
“Colliers has been educating me on rental and leasing space and some of the things to look out for. For example, there were a couple of good places, but they needed a full build-out, which means I’d have to build everything from a toilet to lighting. It was perfect, but that would mean that a lot of money would go towards building basic essentials before we even got to counters and chairs.
“You’ve got your lease, then you have other maintenance fees. The listed price could be $50 a square foot but those fees could add $20 to $50. I remember speaking to a realtor that told me about spaces that cost over $100 per square foot … I knew I wouldn’t make any money on a price like that.”
He said that Press’d gave him a five-year run of the numbers to see how things should progress. “I’m not an accountant. I worked in marketing. It was eye-opening to see how much one per cent could mean or what $1 extra an hour could mean for profitability.”
Once he finds a location, Leclerc will need to apply for construction licences and hire a contractor to build the restaurant. “The nitty gritty can’t really get going until I have a location. The bank is also waiting for a firm location, so that’s where I am right now.”
Leclerc hopes to welcome customers around Labour Day weekend.
