Thank you.
I would like to thank my colleagues from the Department of Finance and the receiver general for their continued co-operation and support in the production of the public accounts of Canada. In addition, I would like to thank the Office of the Auditor General for its continued co-operation and assistance.
Turning to the financial statements, as the committee will have noted, overall the government ended the year showing a deficit of $39.4 billion, up $25.4 billion from the previous year, and up $22.6 billion more than projected in budget 2019. The accumulated deficit rose $35.9 billion to $721.4 billion in 2020. At the same time, the ratio of accumulated deficit-to-GDP is 31.3%, up from 30.8% in the previous year.
Revenues increased by $1.9 billion from 2019, primarily reflecting increases in income tax revenues and introduction of the fuel charge.
Program expenses, excluding the net actuarial losses, increased by $23.9 billion from 2019, reflecting increases in all major categories of expenses, including fuel charge proceeds returned.
It is important to note that the March 31, 2020 results included the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when costs such as two weeks of the Canada emergency response benefit and transfer payments were incurred, as well as impacts on estimates for loan loss provisions and tax revenues, which increased the total program expenses compared to the previous year and thus the annual deficit.
Those points are among what I would call the highlights. My colleagues and I look forward to discussing the results of this year's public accounts with the committee in more detail.
I would also like to engage the committee on how to improve the public accounts. There have been no significant changes to the form and content of the public accounts since the government moved to accrual accounting in 2003. With more, and timelier, online reporting of information, I feel that there would be merit in examining the current practice of presenting information annually in three volumes totalling over 1,200 pages. As well, I believe some of the thresholds of reporting have not been increased in 40 years and could be changed, such as in the sections on payments of claims against the Crown, as well as losses of public money and property.
I would appreciate your feedback on that.
Thank you for your attention.