Hundreds more federal government jobs appear to be on the chopping block - including three information technology positions in the city.

The MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo acknowledged the potential loss would be hard on the employees and their families.

But Cathy McLeod said the government is committed to returning to a balanced budget by 2015 while reducing government spending and preserving transfers to provinces and health care.

"With IT changes, there are opportunities again to get rid of duplication, to streamline and to become more efficient," McLeod said Thursday.

Even if the positions are cut, there's a chance the employees will be shifted to other government jobs, said McLeod.

Nearly 1,500 people working at Human Resources and Social Development Canada received notices Thursday warning them that their jobs could be in jeopardy.

About 900 of those impacted are members of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, while the remainder fall under the umbrella of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

PIPSC vice-president Debi Daviau said a third of those 900 positions will end in jobs lost. That will put pressure on those who remain.

Worst-case scenario, that could mean delays in the processing of social insurance cards and social assistance and pension cheques, said Daviau.

"I don't see how it will not impact our services to Canadians," she said. "They have to. I don't see how they won't."

McLeod insisted the public won't notice the cuts and that many of the affected employees will likely be reassigned.

"These (cuts) do not affect front-line services in Canada," she said.

PSAC executive vice-president Chris Aylward said another 149 RCMP employees have also been told they could be losing their jobs.

"This is another sad day for our members, and a troubling day for Canadians across the country," said Aylward.

"Hundreds more workers and their families are being handed an uncertain future, and Canadians across the country will inevitably by affected by service cuts."

Most of those affected at Human Resources are stationed in the Ottawa region.

The potential RCMP cuts are spread across the country and affect forensic lab workers, police officer recruiters and clerical staff.

Since the 2012 budget, which warned of the federal government's forthcoming effort to reduce the size of the civil service, more than 18,000 PSAC members have received notices that they could lose their jobs, the union said.

The latest round of cuts is the second this year for workers at Human Resources. More than 5,000 employees - over 22 per cent of the department's workforce - have now received so-called "affected" notices from the department, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada said.

THE DAILY NEWS/THE CANADIAN PRESS