The Public Service Alliance of Canada, the largest public sector union, says Canadians' food safety will be affected by the job cuts in the federal budget. (The Canadian Press)

More than 2,000 federal employees in the Ottawa-Gatineau region received redundancy notices Wednesday, which means their jobs could be cut.

Employees who receive letters, and whose jobs are considered "surplus" positions, have 120 days to either choose to stay for a year, take early retirement if they are 55 years old and over, take a buyout package or take a buyout package and reimbursement for educational expenses.

The overall mood among federal government workers was very gloomy.

"I have friends that found out today they got cut and I've know them for thirty years," one worker, who did not want their name used in fear of their employment, told CBC News. "It's like a funeral."

Some Ottawa workers went home after receiving the letters because they became emotional, their co-workers said.

The notices were handed out in many different departments. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) said a total of 2,225 of their members got notices in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.

Here is the breakdown where some of those notices were handed out:

Canadian International Development Agency	529
Health Canada	485
Public Health Agency of Canada	275
Agriculture	237
Natural Resources	127
Industry Canada	120
Privy Council Office	104
Citizenship and Immigration	79
Public Works and Government Services	55
Treasury Board	54
Environment	46
Public Safety	40
HRSDC	33
Veterans Affairs	15
Transport Canada	10
Immigration and Refugee Board	7
Department of Economic Diversification	6
Centre for Information & Community Services	2
*Not included: regional breakdown not available for Canada Border Services Agency and Canadian Heritage

The government is trying to eliminate more than 19,000 jobs across Canada over the next three years. More than 5,500 notices were handed out across Canada.

PSAC warned the job cut numbers could be higher.