The Liberals have allocated less than half of the budget spending from a controversial $7-billion fund that outraged opposition MPs, who argued it fundamentally undermined how Parliament scrutinizes government spending. They say the pace of the roll-out shows the revamped system didn’t justify the lost oversight.
The government transferred $2.89-billion, or 41 per cent, to departments since the $7.04-billion fund passed the House in June as part a process to reform the main spending estimates to get them aligned with the budget for the first time. Vote 40 created a central fund for the Treasury Board to manage programs identified in the budget that weren’t yet fleshed out, but given the amount spent to date critics say there’s no reason the government couldn’t have asked for the bulk of funding the traditional way: through supplementary estimates. The first of two this year were tabled Oct. 24.
“What that number shows is that there really wasn’t any good reason to ask Parliament to authorize that spending because those projects aren’t ready to go,” said NDP MP Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, Man.).
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