Mr. Speaker, government information on funds, grants, loans and loan guarantees issued by departments and agencies is based on parliamentary authorities for departmental or agency programs and activities. This information is listed by department and government organization in the Public Accounts and disclosed on the websites of government organizations. However, government organizations do not generally compile or analyze expenditure information by electoral district.
Over the course of the 39th Parliament, a number of government organizations have undertaken efforts to identify federal expenditures by postal codes which could then be summarized by electoral districts using a tool developed by Statistics Canada. While there is some promise in this approach, there remains a significant potential for error since many postal codes straddle two or more electoral districts. Moreover, the government has significant concerns about the quality of the financial data derived by this approach because there is no way to track the geographic area in which federal funding is actually spent. For these reasons, it is not possible to produce an accurate and comprehensive answer to this question at the present time.
That said, last spring, Statistics Canada initiated a process to enhance the accuracy of the tool that provides the link between postal codes and electoral districts. The process will allow departments which use the tool to better approximate by electoral district data retrieved on a postal code basis. The improved tool has been available since January 30, 2008, and training for government organizations that use this tool is planned for February and March, 2008.