Mr. Speaker, the Treasury Board’s financial policy instruments apply to departments as defined in section 2 of the Financial Administration Act, or FAA. Organizations in the Government of Canada, such as Crown corporations, that are not defined in section 2 of the FAA are encouraged to adopt these policy instruments to the extent possible.
Under Treasury Board’s policy on financial management, the deputy head, as accounting officer for the department, is responsible for ensuring that departments have effective systems of internal control to mitigate risks in the following broad categories: public resources being used prudently and in an economical manner; financial management processes being effective and efficient; and relevant legislation, regulations and financial management policy instruments being complied with.
Deputy heads are also responsible for effective multi-year expenditure plans, through multi-year financial planning, to ensure funds are spent on departmental priorities. Departments must maintain effective due diligence and ongoing monitoring of spending to ensure alignment to their mandates.
Additionally, most departments are able to carry forward a portion of unspent funds from one year to the next. This flexibility acts as a disincentive for the “March madness” spending.
As part of its commitment to openness, transparency and accountability in government procurement, the Government of Canada publicly discloses contracts over $10,000 on https://open.canada.ca/en.