Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today.
We're pleased to be here to discuss our report on the government's expenditure plan and main estimates for 2024-25, published on March 7, 2024. With me today are our lead analysts on the report, Jill Giswold and Kaitlyn Vanderwees.
The government's main estimates for 2024-25 outline $449.2 billion in budgetary spending authorities. Parliament's approval is required for $191.6 billion. Statutory authorities total $257.6 billion. Consistent with previous estimates, money transferred to other levels of government, individuals and other organizations account for most of the planned spending, totalling $283 billion.
Notable areas of planned spending in these main estimates include $81.1 billion for elderly benefits, $52.1 billion for the Canada health transfer and $46.5 billion for interest payments on the public debt.
The 2024‑25 main estimates reflect close to $2.3 billion in reallocations undertaken through the refocusing government spending exercise. More information on the reallocated amounts is available in the 2024‑25 departmental plans, which were tabled with the main estimates on February 24.
Since budget 2024 has not yet been tabled, the 2024‑25 main estimates obviously do not reflect new budget measures. Accordingly, the 2024‑25 budgetary authorities will rise with these anticipated funding requests in the supplementary estimates.
Ms. Vanderwees, Ms. Giswold and I would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have about our analysis of the main estimates.
Thank you.