Thank you, Mr. Chair.
With the supplementary estimates (B), the Government of Canada has increased spending for 2022‑23 by $19.2 billion, or 4.6%, over 2021‑22. This budget can be roughly divided into three parts: a third for measures in the 2022 budget, a third for reconciliation with indigenous peoples, and a third for new measures authorized by the government outside the usual fiscal approval process of the federal budget and the fall economic statement.
We know that supplementary estimates provide information on spending needs that could not be specified in previous budgets. We also know that supplementary estimates are tabled after the public accounts, which show the unused, lapsed appropriations that departments had been given in previous fiscal years. We see that about one-tenth of the funds provided have not been used. In 2020‑21 and 2021‑22, the amount of unused appropriations more than doubled over previous years.
We understand that the increase in unused appropriations in health is the result of uncertainty and increased spending related to COVID‑19. It was probably safer to vote in more money than not enough, since no one likes to get caught with their pants down in a crisis. However, and here's the rub, no information was provided about appropriations unused by other departments, appropriations unrelated to the pandemic, especially since these explanations should have been included in departmental results reports and the public accounts.
I'm going to ask two questions related to this lengthy introduction.
First, why didn't you explain the reasons for not spending the voted appropriations in the departmental results reports and the public accounts of Canada? In fact, why didn't you force the departments to do it?
Next, how is it that the departments aren't spending the funds allocated to them when, according to government officials, the departments urgently need considerable amounts of funding?