Details on cuts still missing, watchdog says

Budget officer’s report says MPS might not get full picture for a year

OTTAWA— Six months after the Harper government’s belt-tightening budget, MPs are still lacking details on how spending cuts will affect government services and programs, Ottawa’s budget watchdog says in a report released on Wednesday.

And MPs might not get the full picture until a year from now, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page notes in his analysis of the Conservatives’ restraint plans.

Kevin Page criticizes federal government’s secrecy

Disclosure of information on how spending cuts from the 2012 budget will be felt by Canadians remains “uneven,” with less than one-third of federal government departments and agencies providing details on how the cuts will change their operations, the report says.

“Parliamentarians may wish to note the continuing unevenness in disclosures pertaining to austerity measures . . . especially given that six months has passed since the most recent reductions (in spending) announced in Budget 2012,” Page writes.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer is skeptical of the government’s claim that it can implement the spending cuts in the 2012 budget without undercutting some of the services and programs Canadians receive from Ottawa.

The budget called for cuts in federal spending of $5 billion annually.

But Page says the most recent cuts, combined with previous belttightening measures, will reduce Ottawa’s program spending by $37 billion over five years. He has been complaining about government secrecy and pressing the Conservatives to provide more details on the impact of the restraint measures.

Treasury Board President Tony Clement has rejected Page’s complaints in the past, saying the government will unveil details of cuts’ impacts through normal reporting mechanisms for Parliament.

But in Wednesday’s report, Page says the government may be using what are called “frozen allotments” to hide some spending reductions. Treasury Board can use this mechanism to quietly ensure that departments do not spend funds already identified as savings measures in the March 29 budget.

These spending cuts will not be reported to Parliament until the 2012-13 Public Accounts report is released a year from now, the budget officer said.

“This could explain the high proportion of federal organizations that did not disclose this information in their current reports,” he adds.

He suggests MPs press the government for details on the “frozen allotments.”