XPost: can.politics, ont.politics, bc.politics   
   XPost: ab.politics, sk.politics, man.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   They're not spending budgeted monies from previous budgets - letting   
   programs and people 'go without'. . . .  "tens of billions" of our tax   
   dollars.   
      
   It's a devious game - from the government that's learned to do  best.  .   
   . .  the Cons.   
   _______________________________________   
      
   The Wall Street Journal -  November 18, 2013, 12:19 PM   
      
   Canada Budget Watchdog Wonders Why Money Isn’t Being Spent   
      
      
   Canada’s budget watchdog is pushing lawmakers to press the Canadian   
   government on why tens of billions of dollars go unspent each year by   
   bureaucrats.   
      
   So-called “lapsed spending” has hit roughly 10 billion Canadian dollars   
   ($9.57 billion) a year over the last three fiscal years, the Office of   
   the Parliamentary Budget Officer said Monday.  The unspent money is   
   returned to federal coffers, and was largely responsible for the   
   markedly smaller-than-expected deficit by the Canadian government   
   recorded in fiscal 2012-2013.   
      
   The budget watchdog noted the amount of lapsed spending has grown   
   “consistently” over the past decade, and hit a high of C$11.2 billion in   
   fiscal 2010-2011, or 12% of the money Canada’s parliament approved to be   
   spent that term.   
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   “Parliamentarians may wish to seek clarification regarding why this   
   level of unspent money remains so high [and] what measures will be   
   undertaken by departments and agencies to ensure that spending directed   
   by parliament occurs,” the budget watchdog said.   
      
   Representatives for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty weren’t immediately   
   available for comment.   
      
   In last week’s fall fiscal update, Mr. Flaherty said the Canadian   
   government anticipated the amount of money to go unspent at government   
   departments to be larger this fiscal year — which ends March 31, 2014 —   
   than it previously anticipated, by roughly C$1.5 billion to C$7 billion.   
      
   The government also opted to be “prudent” and project larger amounts of   
   lapsed spending in the next two years.   
      
   The amount of lapsed spending is expected to dwindle to about 5% of   
   approved expenditures by the end of the decade, the government’s fiscal   
   update indicated.   
      
   These large amounts of “lapsed spending” are unfolding as the   
   Conservative government pushes toward a balanced budget in the 2015-16   
   fiscal year, or in time for the next federal vote.   
      
   Back in 2012, the government implemented an austerity program to extract   
   over C$5 billion annually in savings, and in the budget update last week   
   said it would introduce further spending-restraint measures in the   
   public sector, totaling C$1.7 billion in savings over two years.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)