The federal government's performance in our report card has recently been very bad. The failure to produce a budget at all in 2020, as everyone in this group will know, was unprecedented. It was a dismaying thing to see happen, because it appears as though there weren't the kinds of consequences that one would hope for. World wars and other disasters have not prevented governments from presenting budgets.
Relative to the âFâ that we awarded that year, the federal government's performance is improving. When we look ahead in the report, we're able to look at the most recent budget cycle to get a sense of how things are developing, and the federal government, in some respects, did improve its performance relative to where it had been.
I would love to see the federal government do more. I made a quick reference in passing in my opening remarks to the aborted attempt. It was part of the 2015 election platform, and for a fiscal policy wonk like me, my heart beat faster when I saw the commitment to release the estimates along with the budget. Even after having spoken at some length to Scott Brison about what happened then, I don't understand it.
As you can see, if you have the table in front of you and scan down, there's really no reason not to be able to do it. The Maritime provinces all do this. Clearly, if you release your budget well in advance of the fiscal year with the main estimates, then the work of the parliamentarians in understanding the fiscal framework and being able to scrutinize it before money starts getting spent at the beginning of the fiscal year is greater.
In the case of the federal government, since I'm on the topic of timeliness, I will also add the importance of federal transfers and other federal programs to the finances of other governments in the country, particularly the provincial and territorial governments. It really is incumbent on the federal government to get their numbers out early so that other governments have a chance to see them before they put their own plans in place.
It's kind of silly, if you look at the recent budget cycles, that we have a number of governments in the country.... New Brunswick is a standout. It always produces its budget well in advance at the beginning of the fiscal year. New Brunswick gets a lot of federal transfers. It's not easy for them, and it should be a lot easier. The federal budget should precede the New Brunswick budget so that they have a firmer basis for planning.
There are all kinds of reasons for the federal government to produce its budget and its estimates in a more timely way, and I'm not clear on why that isn't happening.