Any efforts to cut government spending to address the structural deficit should start with Conservative waste said Liberal MPs who released a list of $1.2 billion in non-essential spending that has spiked under the Harper government.
“This week’s budget should start by cutting the needless spending that has skyrocketed under the Conservatives, rather than eliminating job creation initiatives or programs that help vulnerable Canadians” said Liberal Treasury Board Critic Siobhan Coady. “In recent years, the biggest spending increases by this government have been in areas that promote the Conservative agenda or dole out contracts to their friends. This waste should be cut first.”
Ms. Coady noted that, according to the Public Accounts, expenditure in the area of “Transport and Communications” has shot up $800 million or 31.9% since the 2005/06 fiscal year – including well over $100 million for Economic Action Plan ads alone. “Transport and Communications” includes government advertising, government travel, and contracts given out for communications services. By comparison, over the last four years of the previous Liberal government this area only increased by 2.3%.
“Given this government’s obsession with advertising and self-promotion, it is not surprising to see this spike in spending,” said Ms. Coady. “But it’s unacceptable for the Conservatives to spend so much on public relations when they are asking Canadians to tighten their belts at the same time.”
Ms. Coady pointed to an increase in spending on management consultants by the Conservatives, now up to an average of $570 million a year, an astounding 165% increase over the previous Liberal government.
“In the areas we’ve identified, expenditures have increased by $1.2 billion since 2005/06, much of which is low-priority spending,” said Liberal Finance Critic John McCallum, who also called for savings to be realized by reducing the cabinet back to 31 members, as it was before the last election, and restricting direct mail “ten-percenter” communication flyers to MPs’ own ridings.
In 2005, Mr. McCallum chaired Cabinet’s Expenditure Review Committee which ultimately found $11B in low priority spending for reallocation to higher priority areas like healthcare.
“We know there are valuable programs that support aboriginal health, job creation, and innovation which are schedule to sunset soon and which may be on the government’s chopping block,” said Mr. McCallum. “Instead of targeting valuable programs that help Canadians, the Conservatives must show a commitment to cut their own waste first.”
