![]() ![]() Overall, they should be more forthcoming on whether or not they are actually meeting budgetary promises, the report recommends. The report concludes that governments should adjust the way they report their revenues and expenses, clearly stating certain subcategories instead of lumping them in with others, such as returns on investment the cost of servicing debts gross revenue and expenses transfers and spending on major programs, such as health care. “What we’ve seen over the past 20 years is that there’s very consistent under-projection of revenue and under-projection of spending … So there’s something wrong with the way governments are presenting the numbers there.” This lack of transparency is a long-standing problem with Canada’s governments, he said.Įstimates of revenue and spending are consistently incorrect, Robson said. “It’s a bit unsettling that so many questions just never got answered … The information is so patchy.” Variation in the accounting methods used make it difficult to get a full picture of the expenses, Robson said. This means that Canada’s governments might struggle to deliver services in the future, the report said.īut it is still difficult to understand the full scope of the spending just by looking at the budgets. Spending went up, but revenues stayed the same, causing a $368-billion increase in the combined debt of senior governments, of which $327 billion was an increase in the federal government’s debt, the report notes. Pandemic benefit cheques issued by the federal government. Yet, an opposite view supports the value of piling up store inventory to promote sales, that is, 'Stack them high, let'em fly' ( Balakrishnan et al. The spending of provincial and territorial governments jumped seven per cent on average in 2020, while the federal government’s spending jumped 70 per cent. Government spending, however, increased across the board, with some governments spending more than others. ![]() The federal government made transfer payments to individuals and businesses, which kept the provinces and territories afloat. Looking at revenues, it’s hard to tell the pandemic even happened at all. ![]() “Future historians of public finances in Canada will see from a glance … that something remarkable happened in the 2020/21 fiscal year,” the report notes. When, at last, the budgets were released, they revealed enormous pandemic spending. “If a government doesn’t present a budget until after the fiscal year has already started, then very straightforwardly they’re just doing what they want, without authorization from the Legislature,” Robson said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. ![]()
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