But does Usher also owe an apology to his Cabinet colleagues, including the PM? Our sources say ministers were also caught off guard by yesterday's memorandum.
So did he clear it with the PM? Usher says he "thinks" he discussed it with him:
Reporter
"Was this something that was taken to cabinet?"
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service
"It's a decision for the human resource management or human resource arm of the government. So it's a decision by the Minister of Public Service. As I explained to you, we've had these discussions with the joint union team and we believe that it's in the best interest as a cost-saving measure and as a way of doing the proper HR analysis going forward."
Reporter
"Okay, and did it have the Prime Minister's approval just going forward with it."
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service
"I think the Prime Minister and I had a discussion on it, and as we agreed that on a case-by-case basis, we can look at those officers that need to be transferred or the proposal is for them to be transferred. But again, every year we seem to get more and more mass transfers of public officers, which might not serve the interests of the public service. Unfortunately, many times those are done in a punitive way, going against the regulation. So that's what we try to avoid."
