OTTAWA — Federal opposition parties want to know why Ottawa consistently stalls on getting billions of dollars out the door. But they aren’t optimistic they’ll get answers.
“It’s unfortunate, but of course without a majority it’s hard for us to sometimes push an agenda,” said Dan Harris, an NDP MP who sits on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.
That committee is tasked, among other things, with reviewing and reporting on the government’s annual financial statements.
As Global News reported last week, the federal government held on to more than $10 billion it was expected to spend in 2012-13. That figure has increased steadily throughout the past decade, reaching a high of $11.2 billion in 2010-11, according to the Public Accounts of Canada.
When departments don’t spend all their money, Ottawa lets them keep some, giving them another shot at funding the programs they were expected to.
READ: Ottawa sits on more than $10 billion in 2012-13
The rest is dumped into the government’s general bank account, where it can contribute to paying down the deficit. The opposition has characterized these as hidden cuts and a means for the Conservatives to keep their promise of balancing the budget by 2015-16.
Harris said the NDP plans to push for a review of the government’s chronic under spending. Without support from the Conservatives, however, any attempt to get such a study off the ground may prove futile.
“With a majority on the committee, the Conservatives will likely stop us from doing any of that,” Harris said Tuesday in an interview.
Treasury Board President Tony Clement said some funds remain unspent because of an expectation for departments to conduct business at the lowest possible cost.
“Parliament approves maximum spending limits, however, departments do not always require the maximum spending amount,” he wrote in an email.
The funds Ottawa has left on the table is money Parliament approved and Canadians were told they could expect through a slew of programs in dozens of departments. Last year, the programs that didn’t spend all authorized funding included the Senate Ethics Officer, disability and death compensation at Veterans Affairs, and weather and environmental services at Environment Canada.
The public accounts committee has scheduled just one meeting to review the most recent Public Accounts, an annual three-volume publication that details government revenues and expenditures.
‘Tell me why you need that money’: PBO
The parliamentary budget officer is also curious, calling on MPs and senators to figure out why the government is consistently under spending.
While committees may have a difficult time getting the subject on the agenda, there are other avenues available, said Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Frechette.
“As parliamentarians, they can ask questions,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “Whether it’s in committee meetings or the House of Commons or in the Senate, they can ask questions.”
Frechette raised the issue this week because the government is asking for an additional $5.4 billion to spend in the current fiscal year. The request came in the most recent supplementary estimates (the means by which departments request funds beyond what was approved at the start of the year). It’s unclear whether all – or any – of it’s required.
READ: PBO asks parliamentarians to solve mystery of unspent billions
“Ask the question,” Frechette urged. “Why do you need $5.4 billion? If you have good reasons, tell me why you need that money.”
If the government can answer that question, parliamentarians could remind them they didn’t spend all approved funds last year, the PBO said.
The key, Frechette said, is transparency.
“That’s always the bottom line,” he said. “Transparency in budgets is always the bottom line.”
According to an analysis from the Parliamentary Budget Office, about half of the extra $5.4 billion is earmarked for increasing transfer payments and reimbursing costs for natural disasters, such as this year’s Alberta floods.
The other half is slated to go to departmental operating budgets.
Deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale said he agrees asking as many questions as possible is a good game plan, but said he wouldn’t hold his breath for answers.
“You can ask the questions, you can demand the explanations, but you get this ‘Blah blah blah’ bafflegab from Tony Clement,” he said. “But I think MPs working relevant committees … need to constantly ask the questions—where has the money come from? Where has it gone? And how come something like $10 billion is lapsing? Explain that.”
-With files from The Canadian Press
Comments