Mr. Speaker, the preparation of the budget is at the core of the Department of Finance’s mandate and is a year-long process. As such, the department does not track the hours of work nor the cost associated with this work.
The costs of contracted services, not itemized by hours of work, first for the printing and then for the editing and translation of economic action plan 2014 were $232,862.63 and $98,911.85 respectively.
Other departments are involved in the preparation of the budget, but neither the hours nor the cost is reported in this response.