Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question and for asking for added clarity. It does go back to Canadians through the climate action incentive payment, which is administered through the personal income tax system. It doesn't go back to the government of jurisdiction; it goes back directly to ho

Public Accounts committee  No. The fuel charge is levied upstream, so the GST or HST is not applied against the fuel charge downstream at the consumer or household level.

Public Accounts committee  GST is not charged on the carbon tax.

Public Accounts committee  I appreciate the question. I think I would take it away just to make sure I'm understanding your question clearly and then clearly how the fuel charge is administered at the producer level, which is where the origin of the revenue is. I just want to make sure I completely put t

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Deputy. Unless Darlene or Roch has an answer, I think that's one we can take away.

Public Accounts committee  I'm sorry. Can you just refer to the figure?

Public Accounts committee  What page is that?

Public Accounts committee  You're referencing nothing in the public accounts; that's different.

Public Accounts committee  Go to page 16 of the public accounts, volume I. There is a shaded box at the bottom of that page that I think should help address the question.

Public Accounts committee  It says, “The fuel charge proceeds [returned] $2.7 billion.... [T]he bulk of proceeds were returned through Climate Action Incentive payments. Eligible individuals residing in these provinces were able to claim the payments”. So—

Public Accounts committee  Yes, there's a very small leakage, but the bulk is through the climate action incentive payments to households.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question. I can take the lead, and then Mr. Sabia can jump in if he wants to add. The year-over-year change was roughly $25 billion. You're right: On the expense side, COVID-related expenses were in the range of $7 billion, directly related to the emergency re

Public Accounts committee  We had slightly higher than expected expenses, and one was related to major transfer programs. We were talking about the Hibernia agreement, which was not forecasted at the time of the 2019 budget. Other expenses relate to a whole potpourri of things: litigation, higher pension s

Public Accounts committee  Remember, we had produced budget 2019, which is the reference in the public accounts, in March 2019. The government did provide a fall fiscal update in late 2019, where we had forecasted a deficit for the year of about $25 billion. There was an uptick in expected deficit for th

Public Accounts committee  Yes.