As the deadline for filing 2023 taxes approaches, it is timely to look at how much the federal government spends each year. In the year ended April 1, 2016 (effectively the last year spending was largely determined by the Harper Conservatives) the Canadian government spent $321.6 billion.* That rose to $341.5 billion in 2017 and $375.8 billion in 2020. In 2021 it jumped to $437.5 billion, and $448.9 billion in 2022. The federal civil service now employs 40% more people than it did in 2015. Despite that increase in in-house employment, the budget for third-party consultants has grown 33% since 2017.
We know that relief measures during the pandemic were expensive. That should, however, have been “temporary” spending. Unfortunately there is no such thing as “temporary” spending in Ottawa.
It is never obvious where that money goes. We know from continuing bottlenecks in the judiciary that it’s not being spent on more judges or Crown attorneys. We know from the rapidly decaying military that it’s not being spent on the Armed Forces. The length of time it takes to get a passport is so variable as to be random. If the greatly expanded federal “budget” isn’t funding those things, what is it funding?
We expect an election within the next 18 months. I would suggest a prospective prime minister get to the bottom of the spending question before they are elected. The most detailed information Canadians can access comes from the public accounts. Hire a dozen or two grad students to go through the public accounts line by line. Identify programs that have outlived their usefulness. Identify wasteful boondoggles. Look at where staff increased, and determine if they are really contributing.
I would be very surprised indeed if such an undertaking couldn’t identify cuts that would eliminate the federal deficit right away. And it could be the first step in “right-sizing” the federal government.