The C.D. Howe Institute's latest report card on Canada's senior governments' budget presentations highlights a need for greater transparency. The report argues that budgets should be accessible, timely, and reliable, presenting key financial information clearly and upfront.
The C.D. Howe Institute’s annual report card on Canada ’s senior governments' budge presentations show Ontario earned C+. The federal government earned C. Canada ’s federal, provincial and territorial governments are gearing up for another year’s budgets, which inevitably feature clashes over taxation and spending priorities. Some principles, though, should unite everyone, including the need for government budgets to be accessible, timely and reliable.
the report reveals, too many governments come up short. Budgets are statements of priorities and tools for accountability. Citizens and legislators deserve a clear picture of governments’ plans, and how results compared to those plans. Budgets that bury the key numbers dozens or even hundreds of pages deep, that do not show changes from the recent past and hide contingency reserves do not provide that picture. The numbers need to be reliable, capturing everything the government controls. Excluding parts of programs, such as health care in the case of Nova Scotia, or types of expense, such as the federal government’s moving of pension costs below the line, presents a misleadingly partial picture. Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia present their key numbers within the first 10 pages of their budgets, making them hard to miss. The financial statements of all provinces and territories present their consolidated numbers early, clearly and on a single page. Canada’s senior governments should adopt this practice for their budgets as wel
BUDGETS TRANSPARENCY CANADA C.D. HOWE INSTITUTE ACCOUNTABILITY
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