Government Operations Committee on Oct. 27th, 2009

Evidence of meeting #36 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 40th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was information.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Economic Stimulus Package

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Kevin Page Parliamentary Budget Officer, Library of Parliament

Sahir Khan Assistant Parliamentary Budget Officer, Expenditure and Revenue Analysis, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Library of Parliament

Peter Weltman Financial Advisor, Expenditure and Revenue Analysis , Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Library of Parliament

Clerk of the Committee Mr. Marc-Olivier Girard

4:10 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Foote Liberal Random—Burin—St. George's, NL

Thank you.

Thank you for being here this afternoon.

I want to repeat what Mr. Martin said, how important it is to have this office and to expect you are there to do a job that needs to be done. But I would expect the frustration you're hearing from some of us around the table is probably only surpassed by your own, in terms of not being able to do the job you're intended to do. I appreciate that.

I know we're very frustrated because we hear time and again of initiatives under way, money flowing, announcements being made, but trying to get our hands on the actual information has been like pulling teeth. So I can understand where you're coming from, because we're feeling the same way.

When we talk about projects being announced and money supposedly flowing, we know that when you enter into an initiative with a province or a municipality you're not going to give thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars unless a definite project and timelines are put in place for the completion of that project. That information should be available. I can't imagine any government entering into any type of project without that being front and centre.

So I find it a little interesting when the federal government, on a Friday afternoon, quietly makes records public for $900 million in federal stimulus projects, but you're having trouble getting the information. Why that's happening is a million-dollar question, and of course—

4:10 p.m.

An hon. member

It's $900 million.

October 27th, 2009 / 4:10 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Foote Liberal Random—Burin—St. George's, NL

It's a $900 million question.

When you talk about having the type of reporting, you say, “Members of the Canadian Parliament should be able to expect a comparable level of reporting provided to legislatures in other international jurisdictions.” And, of course, through Canadian parliamentarians, then Canadians would.

I looked at the reporting mechanism used in the U.S. It's user-friendly. Anything you ever want to know about how the stimulus money is being spent in the U.S. is there. It's updated, if not on a daily basis.... I'm looking at one part here. The award progress was updated on October 10, and the distributing and reporting was updated on October 8. You can go through this and find out whatever information you need.

From your observation, would you say that with that type of reporting the American people are fully aware of how their stimulus money is being spent, the types of initiatives that are under way, and what is coming down the pipe for them?

4:15 p.m.

Parliamentary Budget Officer, Library of Parliament

Kevin Page

I would say there is definitely a gap between what the Parliament of Canada has in terms of infrastructure spending--the timeliness and quality of that information--and what the executive will demand of the United States in terms of reporting on the stimulus spending.

We tried to survey 15 OECD countries, and we were successful in surveying 11. We noticed there were two countries, Canada and the United States, that put in extraordinary measures around stimulus reporting. I think it's fair to say that a number of other countries had more robust quarterly reporting than what exists in Canada today. But of the 11 OECD jurisdictions we were able to survey, the United States certainly had the highest level, and there's a gap between Canada and the United States right now.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Foote Liberal Random—Burin—St. George's, NL

Based on the information you have, what percentage of the infrastructure projects are under way?

4:15 p.m.

Parliamentary Budget Officer, Library of Parliament

Kevin Page

Based on the full survey of infrastructure projects, both in the infrastructure stimulus funds and other related infrastructure projects, we're not in a position to really say. I've been told by the Deputy Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities that this week we will get information on the infrastructure stimulus fund. At that point we'll be able to provide you with information and assessment of what's under way vis-à-vis what was committed.

As you've already noted, that is a regular feature of the U.S. report. They highlight the commitments and the outlays or expenses related to those commitments. We don't have that reporting yet, but we hope we might get that in the fourth quarter.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi

Thank you, Madam Foote.

We'll now go to Monsieur Nadeau. Cinq minutes, s'il vous plaît.

4:15 p.m.

Bloc

Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Good afternoon, gentlemen.

You have an extremely important job to do in terms of accountability. I understand that there are tools that you absolutely require and that you do not have access to, at least not easily. This is information that is "relatively simple" to obtain because it is basic.

Concerning the request you made to Public Works Canada, which you told us about today, did you finally receive the basic information, that is to say, the contents of the data base that is essential to your analyses?