PSPC’s three-year $17.5-billion spending plan lacks clear roadmap to future goals, say insiders
With billions on the line and a track record of failed targets, how PSPC plans to deliver on its goals is unclear from its recent departmental plan. ‘Fact is, if the department can’t meet the expectations of delivery for this new government, then heads will roll,’ says Sahir Khan.
From bureaucratic bloat to resilient growth: delivering on Carney’s economic vision
Federal leadership can’t fix everything. Health care and education are provincial. But Ottawa can lead by example and partner with provinces that want to move first. The fix isn’t glossy strategies or more regional programs. It’s about value.
Carney’s Privy Council Clerk Sabia a ‘relentlessly focused’ changemaker
Former deputy finance minister Michael Sabia’s appointment drew praise from Tories, and came just days after he said Canada suffers from an ‘ambition deficit.’
Looking into why the Liberals are opting against a spring budget
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says his government will offer a fall fiscal update, with no plans for a spring budget.
Liberals unveil their vision for CBC/Radio-Canada’s future as looming snap election jeopardizes their plans
Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge says it’s important to complete her mandate, but Carleton journalism professor Chris Waddell says he’s ‘not sure this will survive much longer than the announcement.’
Federal government suggests some spending it claimed drove fall deficit overrun was already in spring budget
The concession comes in the wake of a Jan. 22 PBO report that found ‘a significant portion’ of that money ‘was included in the fiscal framework at the time of Budget 2024.’
Questions remain about how Liberals missed deficit target by over $20-billion, says PBO
Disregarding fiscal anchors has become ‘a unique feature’ of the current government, says Chrétien-era Finance Canada official Eugene Lang.
A spring election may push budget to fall 2025, says former PBO Page
The lengthy prorogation will also ‘complicate and put at risk’ the approval of supply funds—spending money, essentially—for the government, says ex-parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page.
Expanding AI in government operations, modernizing Service Canada sites among feds’ fiscal update’s public service-related measures
The Dec. 16 fall economic update offers no further details on planned savings tied to ‘natural attrition’ in the 2024 federal budget, but noted that effort ‘will begin showing results in 2025-26.’
Hundreds of billions in ‘contingent liabilities’ loom large over Canada
This year’s increase in the deficit is just the first of many payouts of Indigenous contingent liabilities from the backlog of claims accepted in principle but not yet paid.
