PBO Warns MPs to Scrutinize Newly Sought $5.4B in Spending

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Canada’s budget watchdog has recently mentioned in his latest report that the amount of money newly sought by the federal government from Parliament may require more elaborated scrutiny by MPs. It was highlighted that the Treasury Board President, Tony Clement, is seeking an additional $5.4 billion in spending from Parliament in lieu of latest supplementary estimates tabled on Nov. 7.

According to Parliamentary budget officer, Jean-Denis Fréchette, MPs should clarify whether all of this newly sought $5.4 billion is actually required despite the fact that the government is already unable to spend approximately $10 billion originally sought from Parliament each year for the last three years. The report presented by Fréchette concludes that “parliamentarians may wish to seek clarification regarding why this level of unspent money remains so high, what measures will be undertaken by departments and agencies to ensure that spending directed by Parliament occurs, and whether all of the $5.4 billion sought in these supplementary estimates is actually required.”

It was underlined that the latest $5.4 billion sought from Parliament will bring the total amount of money the government is authorized to spend in 2013-14 to approximately $259.9 billion, which is calculated to be 0.3 per cent higher than the allowance government had last year. As it is not unusual for departments to not spend all of the money they are authorized to spend by the Parliament as a precautionary measure in fear of exceeding their limits, Fréchette pointed out that it is instead unusual that the amount of money approved by Parliament going unspent is increasing over the past few years.