Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As the president of the Treasury Board mentioned, the purpose of today's presentation is to explain to you the government's vision for estimates reform. We also want to explain how we plan to support parliamentarians more effectively by providing the best possible information for the purpose of approving government spending.
I have several slides to go through. I propose quite quickly to go through the four pillars as presented by the estimates. I'll present pillar one, the question of timing, and then perhaps pause for questions around that crucial element of timing.
As we see here in the outline, the proposed approach of the four pillars builds on recommendations from this committee, the 2012 study of OGGO on the estimates process, as well as our initial briefing with this very committee in February of last year, where we laid out the challenges around timing.
We believe that once we have the timing properly sequenced, we will be able to move forward with a better understanding of needs and requirements around scope and accounting, the vote structure of appropriations, and results and reporting.
The estimates are clearly essential to the proper operation of government. They form the basis of parliamentary oversight and control, reflect the government's spending priorities, and serve as the principal mechanism for establishing reports on plans and results.
However, parliamentarians have said on many occasions they are unable to perform their role of examining the estimates to ensure adequate control. That situation is attributable to the incoherent nature of the budgetary process, as a result of which budget initiatives are not included in the main estimates. Estimates funds are hard to understand and reconcile, and reports are neither relevant nor instructive.
Accordingly, the government sets out a four-pillar approach to fundamental change, beginning with the first step of changing the timing of the main estimates. As the president mentioned, taking this step will present a more coherent document and allow for the inclusion of budget estimates.
Then we can more easily reconcile the differences in scope and accounting methods between the budget and the estimates, ensure that vote structures for all departments reach parliamentarians, and reform the departments' annual reports so that parliamentarians are better informed about planned expenditures, expected outcomes, and actual outcomes.
Now I will discuss each pillar in detail.
The issue of estimates timing is very critical to any comprehension of the government's aspirations related to the budget and Parliament's understanding and control of departmental expenditures.
According to existing Standing Order 84(1), the government must table on or before the 1st of March the main estimates for the year. In reality, to be able to do this by the 1st of March, we need to prepare a document that reflects Treasury Board decisions up until the end of January. We know that in a typical year the government will table its budget somewhere between mid-February and mid-March, so evidently locking down the main estimates by the end of January precludes any ability to reflect budget items in the main estimates.
As the president has mentioned, this presents the scenario where we are presenting to Parliament the certainty of program expenditures that do not reflect the new plans of government, the new priorities of government, as they are articulated in the budget that's tabled in February and March. This in itself presents a fundamental challenge and incoherence in terms of understanding the budget and estimates process.
To remedy this, the government is proposing that the main estimates be tabled on or before the 1st of May, instead of on or before the 1st of March. At this point the budget would have been presented, and we would have an opportunity to include budget items in the estimates for Parliament's scrutiny.
This change would include a number of benefits, not the least of which is a more coherent sequencing of the documents, a timelier implementation of budget initiatives, the ability to reconcile the estimates back to the budget that was tabled in February or March, and the possibility of eliminating a supplementary exercise. Currently we have the main estimates and three supplementary estimates. We would be simplifying the process and presenting fewer documents to Parliament and therefore less confusion.
I would emphasize that in terms of beginning the fiscal year and the approval of interim supply, nothing would change. As was clear in the document, we would present an interim estimates and an interim supply bill that would be based on a continuation of the current-year existing authorities that would allow departments to begin the year, and then introduce full supply in June, according to the current supply calendar.
Before pausing for questions on the issue of timing, I would present this in a visual form where we see in the period now, October-November, the government preparing its fiscal and economic update. That becomes the basis for planning the budget. We understand that the government would be intending to present a budget to Parliament in the February-March time frame. We would introduce interim supply for the 1st of March, allowing departments to begin the fiscal year in April with authorities, and then we would follow up with main estimates that reflect budget priorities and a reconciliation to the budget in May for Parliament's consideration of full supply in June.
Mr. Chair, at this time I think it might be appropriate to pause and allow committee members to digest this issue of timing and perhaps ask questions on this very critical step.