Federal Surplus Comes with Social Costs, Critics Say
Number of government departments ‘lapsing’ budgets up from 10 years ago: CCPA.
If Canadians want to see how the federal government managed to reach a surplus for the 2014-15 fiscal year, they should think of veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and other wounds, said veterans’ advocate Tom Beaver.
The Conservative government ran a surprise $1.9-billion budget surplus last year, its first since 2008. The surplus has been attributed in part to government “lapses” in spending, in which departments do not spend their full allotted budgets for the year.
Veterans like Beaver have complained a $1.1-billion lapse in spending over several years at Veterans Affairs could have been used to keep department bureaus open across the country, or to help vets who were wounded in the line of duty.
The government has also changed its lifetime pension payments for wounded soldiers to lump-sum payouts, and that has resulted in a court battle.
Beaver said news of the surplus feels like a slap in the face, and the government shouldn’t lapse spending in needed departments. “The [Conservatives] could have had more money if they didn’t spend thousands fighting veterans in the courts,” he said sarcastically.
Beaver said he knows the money didn’t only come from veterans, but from Canadians in general.
On Monday, the Ottawa Citizen reported the government underspent by $8.7 billion in total across government departments last year.
Lapses increased since 2008: CCPA
David Macdonald, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said there’s nothing new about spending lapses, but their frequency has increased since the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing stimulus.
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