Finance Committee on May 25th, 2010

[Jeremy Rudin]

That is correct.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Have we done a study of what it would cost us to save money if we didn't have the penny?

[Jeremy Rudin]

This is a question that has come up a number of times. A variety of estimates have circulated in the public domain.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Yes. And they are public?

[Jeremy Rudin]

They have been done by other commentators.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Oh, not by you guys--not by you guys that are public, is that what you're saying?

[Jeremy Rudin]

We look frequently at the coin program to see what savings can be made. As was announced in the budget 2010, we'll have a substantial reduction in coinage costs arising from a new production method for the $1 and $2 coins.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Okay.

You're making a good point here. I think Massimo was mentioning about an austerity program that was announced. This was done back in the fall, long before he presented our budget this round.

You will have to remind me about the brackets: are they revenue instead of expense? What do the brackets mean under “youth allowance recovery” and “alternative payments for standing programs”?

I'm assuming that's money back to us. Are they down because the economy wasn't as good?

[Chris Forbes]

Yes, on both counts: they are recoveries and they are lower than the previous year because they reflect the value of tax points. So they are lower because of economic events over the past year and a half.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Okay.

There are some other transactions, too, like the Province of Ontario for ALP transfer and so on, which we didn't do in 2009. I know that part of the deal was that they wouldn't lose, or go down.

Do we expect those to disappear or to stay as part of the budget?

[Chris Forbes]

There was one payment in 2009-10, but it wasn't in the main estimates so it showed up in one of the supplementary estimates after the legislation for budget 2009 had passed. There is a payment for 2010-11, but that would be the last payment.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

I don't know how much time I have left....

Two minutes? Good. Then I have time to do two more things.

Based on what you know, are we going to see fairly significant (A), (B), and (C) supplementary estimates from the finance department in this coming year? The reason I ask this question is that right on the front of our lovely blue books, it talks about how much we spend. I think the number was $259 billion for 2010, or 2009 it was $236 billion, and then there are (A), (B), and (C)s on top of that. We end up spending over $300 billion in a year.

I personally would like to see us reduce the number that we see in the (A), (B), and (C)s. What does the current budget do to your department in terms of our future review of upcoming expenses?

[Sherry Harrison]

The operating costs, if there are any changes, would normally reflect any new initiatives that have been announced since the main estimates were closed. For example, in supplementary estimates (A), the task force on the payments system review, the statutory items are refreshed throughout the year based on any new data that we may have.

So, for example, in supplementary estimates (A) you normally see the statutory items reflected to update to the most recent budget data.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Right. But my question was, are you expecting...?

You know, we had significant increases from what we say we've spent in the main estimates until you add supplementary estimates (A), (B), and (C). I'm not blaming you guys for it, but it's across departments. I want to know, are you expecting larger sums in the (A), (B), and (C) supplementary estimates than we've had in the past, or are we looking at the restraint piece that was mentioned by the Liberals?

[Paul Rochon]

In our case, as you know, most of our budget is statutory, related to things like transfers and debt charges. Transfers we expect to be largely unchanged. Debt charges, however, will be significantly lower. So if one were to look at the aggregate Finance estimate, I think it would come in lower simply because interest rates are lower.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you.

Ms. Hughes, please, for seven minutes.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Thank you.

I have a question with respect to the private collection agencies. I notice there are no estimates. It says, “payments to private collection agencies pursuant to section 17.1”. And in 2009-2010—

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

I'm sorry, Ms. Hughes, CRA is in the second panel.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Oh, I'm sorry.

Okay, we'll go to the next round, then. I'm sorry.

Give me a second here. Sorry; this was a last throw-in for me.

Because I'm not as prepared for this, I'm going to defer this to my colleagues from the Liberals. I will give them my seven minutes.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Well, they're next. Do you want to allocate your time? Because they have the next round as well.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

They have the next round?

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give three and a half minutes to them and three and a half minutes to my Bloc colleagues. Thank you.

[An hon. member]

Oui!

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Order.

Ms. Hall Findlay, you have three minutes.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Hughes.

I have a couple of questions, just very quickly, on the P3 work before. I just wanted to follow up, and maybe it could just be information that's provided.

I just want to confirm, are two projects now in place instead of three?