OTTAWA — Like the Harper government before it, the Trudeau government left billions of dollars unspent on everything from national parks to veterans services to economic development grants during the 2015-16 fiscal year.
The so-called “lapsed” funding for fiscal 2016 is $9.7 billion, according to the Public Accounts of Canada. All of those unspent funds were used to pay down the federal debt.
This year’s three-volume public accounts also close the books on fiscal 2016, a year in which the Harper Conservatives controlled the purse strings for the first seven months and the Trudeau Liberals for the final five months.
While it is normal every year to see billions of dollars lapse, NDP MP Charlie Angus is flagging the $900 million left unspent by the Department of Indigenous Affairs at a time when the department is, among other things, in court fighting demands to pay the health-care costs of some First Nations children.
“Theirs is the ultimate shell game in terms of finances. You can never find where the money goes,” said Angus, who is the sponsor of a motion that will be voted on Tuesday night in the House of Commons calling on the government to spend an additional $155 million immediately to improve health care for Inuit and First Nations children.
In fiscal 2015, indigenous affairs let more than $1 billion go unspent. The money it gave back represented 11 per cent of the more than $8 billion it had been given by Parliament to improve the lives of indigenous Canadians. The department has said the bulk of previous lapses were the result of land claims that did not get resolved in a given budget year.
“But still, they regularly pull back money … and just don’t spend it,” Angus said. “This is such a dysfunctional department, and government after government refuses to fix it. If there’s money there, make sure the damn money is spent.”
Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett’s press secretary Serena Williams said the government “is absolutely committeed” to moving funds out in the fiscal year in which they were committed and explained last year’s lapse this way: “Ninety-three per cent of the funds in question are for settling specific claims and claims under the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. This funding gets carried forward to be used in the next fiscal year to continue the important work of advancing reconciliation by funding the Residential School Settlement Agreement and settling specific claims.”
In fiscal 2016, Ottawa’s final spending total was $296 billion, an increase of 5.7 per cent or $16 billion compared with fiscal 2015.
About half of that is spending that takes place year-in and year-out — old age payments, employment insurance payouts, debt charges — that does not require annual approval by Parliament because it is authorized by other legislation. Another $55 billion in spending is the result of things such as depreciation and accounting reconciliation of non-cash items.
But the rest, about $95 billion in federal spending, required the approval of Parliament — approval that lasts only as long as the fiscal year. Departments that get this type of funding but don’t spend it must come back to Parliament in a future year to ask for the money again.
The government-wide lapse of $9.7 billion in fiscal 2016 represents about 3.8 per cent of the available funds authorized in one way or another by Parliament.
The percentage of lapsed funds peaked in 2010-11 at more than 10 per cent but dropped to 3.9 per cent by fiscal 2015, the final full year for the Harper government.
Some departments habitually have a more difficult time than others spending approved money.
National Defence, for example, left $1.3 billion unspent, or about 6.5 per cent of the $20.65 billion Parliament had authorized it to spend.
“National Defence manages the largest operating budget in the government, with projects needing funds over many years,” Jordan Owens, press secretary to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan wrote in an e-mail.
“Despite sound long-term planning, delays happen. This results in funds needing to be moved into a reserve so that they can then be used in different years than initially expected.”
Owens said the lapse in fiscal 2016 was smaller than the last full year with the Harper government in charge. In fiscal 2015, it was $2 billion.
Public Safety Canada, which includes the RCMP, the Correctional Service of Canada, and Canada Border Services Agency, was authorized to spend $9.2 billion in fiscal 2016 but left unspent 11.6 per cent of that — about $1 billion.
Scott Bardsley, press secretary to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, said the lion’s share of the lapse — about $700 million — was related to disaster relief for the provinces that, while booked by the federal government in 2016, was not paid out.
Infrastructure Canada left $858 million unspent, nearly 20 per cent of the $4.4 billion it was authorized to use in 2016.
But that doesn’t mean that infrastructure money was never spent.
“Once money is committed for approved projects, it remains available for that project until it is completed. Unspent funding is reprofiled to the next fiscal year,” said Brook Simpson, press secretary to infrastructure minister Amarjeet Sohi.
• Email: dakin@postmedia.com | Twitter: davidakin
No comments:
Post a Comment