Government Operations committee  It's a pleasure to be a good neighbour and to discuss the Canadian practice, even though I'm not an expert on it. I want to begin by indicating that good practice is not necessarily a precondition for good budget outcomes. My own country, the United States, is an example of thi

Government Operations committee  First of all, I'm a little wary, when two experts agree, that it isn't a conspiracy of sorts. I can't tell you whether the Parliamentary Budget Officer simply has what I'll call growing pains—the new kid on the block, and Treasury Board and other mandarins in Ottawa kind of circl

Government Operations committee  The parliamentary budget office is inherently a hybrid. It cannot attach to a committee, and it's not a completely independent organization along the lines of the national budget office in Korea or the Congressional Budget Office in the United States. I do think the Parliamenta

Government Operations committee  The problem is that if the framework follows the main estimates it's kind of backwards. The timing is reversed. A framework doesn't do much good in framing issues if it comes after the estimates, so to my mind the key issue is that.... Let's work backwards. When do the estimate

Government Operations committee  Not necessarily. I've lived through changes in the fiscal year that didn't make a difference. In other words, at the time you change a fiscal year you say that will solve all sorts of problems, and then you don't really change anything. There may be good reasons to change the fi

Government Operations committee  Let me add a footnote to that.

Government Operations committee  A generation ago, the fiscal year in the United States was changed. It was advanced forward three months, from July 1 to October 1, the rationale being that this would give the United States Congress three additional months to complete its work on the budget. What we've learned

Government Operations committee  You're right.

Government Operations committee  I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that Canada is the only holdout, but clearly it's in the minority. Most countries overwhelmingly have moved toward a consolidated budget. I don't know enough about Canada to explain why it has persisted with the old system. It might simply be ine

Government Operations committee  Well, I don't know how investment expenditure is treated in Canada, but in most countries it's in the operating budget unless it's a very major project. In other words, filling in potholes in a highway is something that is regarded as an operating expenditure, typically, rather t

Government Operations committee  Well, if you're asking for the timing or if it should be approved before the start of the fiscal year, there was an old tradition in Westminster countries—one of the most bizarre practices—which was that at one time all Westminster countries routinely approved the budget after th

Government Operations committee  It's generally favourable. Sweden, which I mentioned earlier, adopted this divided system in the 1990s in response to an economic crisis it had. Since then, Sweden has done remarkably well. The reason is.... It's not simply that you have a strategy in the first stage. I called it

Government Operations committee  Not in the fall, but in February. But that's nine months, yes. Let me respond with the following. The United States is not a role model in budgeting for any country in the world and should not be regarded as a role model.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  The answer to that question lies with you, not me. Ask yourself the following question: Do we as parliamentarians have sufficient time to undertake a responsible review of the government tabled by government? If the answer is yes, then don't change the timing. Only if the answer