About 300 B.C. government employees will likely lose their jobs as a result of the budget cuts rolled out Tuesday by Finance Minister Colin Hansen, according to a memo obtained by CBC News.

'There simply won't be the people on the ground to ensure that environmental catastrophes don't take place.'—George Heyman, executive director of the Sierra Club of B.C

Staff had been warned that up to five per cent of the 30,000 jobs in the public sector — about 1,500 jobs — were at risk as the government moved to curtail spending.

But in the memo sent to staff Tuesday after the budget was tabled, Jessica MacDonald, deputy minister to the premier, said job cuts will be much more limited than projected after losses from retirement and attrition are considered.

"I am now able to say that due to the measures we have introduced we have been successful in reducing those numbers to less than one per cent of the organization this year, or under 300 positions," MacDonald said in the memo.

Workers, advocates worried

Darryl Walker of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union said his members are still worried.

"They don't necessarily know what the future holds," said Walker.

What is known is that about $500 million in cuts will be spread across nine ministries, including Forests, Labour and Finance, over three years, and one of the hardest-hit will be the Environment Ministry, which had about $46 million cut from its annual budget.

George Heyman, executive director of the Sierra Club of B.C., fears the impact on environmental protection.

"There simply won't be the people on the ground to ensure that environmental catastrophes don't take place," said Heyman.

B.C. Children's Representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond was also concerned about how the cuts would affect services for vulnerable children, especially aboriginal youth.

"B.C. has lowered in its education service plan how many kids it expects to graduate who are aboriginal, for instance. Isn't that shameful?" said Turpel-Lafond.

"Shouldn't we be focusing at this time on improving their performance, especially when I sat in the legislative assembly last week and heard the speech from the throne say how desperately concerned aboriginal parents are about housing and education?"