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Parliamentary Budget Officer: The federal budget lacks transparency

Parliamentary Budget Officer: The federal budget lacks transparency

By Omayma othmani

Published: April 14, 2023

 

The Parliamentary Budget Officer, Yves Giroux, issued a critical analysis of the fiscal year 2023 - 2024 budget in which he pointed out major shortcomings in terms of transparency.

Aside from proposing a reduction in spending on consulting services, professional services, and travel, the 2023 budget does not specify opportunities for saving resources and reallocating them ''to adapt government activities and programs to the new reality following the (COVID-19) pandemic'', the report adds.

Furthermore, the government identified in the 2023 budget ''new undisclosed measures amounting to $798 million, on a net basis from 2022 - 2023 to 2027 - 2028''. In absolute terms, these are revenue or ''expenditure decisions exceeding $12 billion for which no detailed information has been provided'', says Giroux in his report.

It is worth noting that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced in the budget she presented on March 28 an amount of new expenditures of $69.7 billion.

The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau had spent $115.9 billion in 2022, an increase of 32.5% compared to 2019 - 2020.

One of the recommendations in the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report also stated that the government should present the budget on a fixed date at the beginning of the year for better transparency.

Giroux also recommended that Parliament adopt a new legislative framework to enhance budget transparency.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer conducts this analysis every year to assist parliamentarians in their deliberations on the budget.

The budget is expected to be reviewed in the House of Commons in the coming weeks.

Professor Genevieve Tellier, a professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, said the lack of transparency by the federal government makes it difficult to audit government spending plans.

In fact, we can talk about a lack of transparency. It is very frustrating to read government budgets, especially the federal one. We feel it’s a huge document trying to make the government look good (...), but when we want to look for details on very specific initiatives, we get lost. Quoted from Genevieve Tellier, professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa

Regarding the lack of details about the $12 billion in expenditures not detailed in the budget, Tellier believes the government should provide more information about it ''later''. ''But this may be confidential information'', the university professor adds in an interview with Radio-Canada Television.

But one of the most ''surprising'' points, in her opinion, is the lack of transparency regarding the expenditures of each ministry.

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