Parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux has said that federal budgeting leaves taxpayers with minimal ability to “follow each and every dollar,” according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“There are mechanisms to prevent inappropriate expenditures but there is no guarantee all these mechanisms are followed,” said Giroux at the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance on Wednesday. “Once the money is approved it is much more difficult to follow each and every dollar.”
Senator David Richards of the Canadian Senators Group replied that Giroux’s testimony confirmed a suspected lack of oversight.
“I have been asking for four years, is there any definitive way where the audits and oversight can come into the committee so we can know where this money is actually going?” said Richards. “It’s been told to us, where it’s going in a general way and why we need it, but there’s no specificity that I have seen since I’ve been in this job on this committee, not really.”
Giroux said that the Canadian government is telling people to “trust us and trust the officials and we will use that money efficiently and to the best purpose that we are saying we’ll use it for.”
“That makes it very difficult to ensure that the money is effectively used efficiently and for the purpose for which it is supposed to be used,” he said. “Once the money is approved it is much more difficult to follow.”
The 2022 Canadian budget contains $45 billion in spending on Indigenous people, $26 billion on national defence, $6 billion for veterans, $4.2 billion for the RCMP, $3 billion for federal prisons and $1.3 billion for the CBC. Ten departments will each spend more than $5 billion, according to the budget.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised cabinet in 2020 that he would cut spending once the COVID-19 pandemic ended.
“Absolutely, once we are through this pandemic, it is going to be extremely important to be fiscally responsible and sustainable,” said Trudeau.
The Canadian government’s fall economic statement in 2020 said that Canada’s national deficit would reach $381.6 billion by the end of the year, while the federal debt would reach $1.4 trillion by March 2021.
“This is the most severe challenge our country has faced since the Second World War,” said finance minister Chrystia Freeland in a speech to the House of Commons. “Canadians should know that their federal government will be there to help them get through it, come what may.”
The economic statement showed that the government would be between 3-4% of Canada’s GDP between 2021 to 2024 to try to help the Canadian economy.
