QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Public Accounts
November 1, 2022
My question is also for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.
Senator Gold, we now have the public accounts for the last fiscal year. Thank you for your help in having them released earlier compared to last year.
The annual Departmental Results Reports are intended to determine if the money spent by government and reported in the public accounts yielded the results intended. The government released last year’s Departmental Results Reports in March of this year, 11 months after the fiscal year ended. They were released much too late to be useful.
My question is this: Given your success in having the March 2022 public accounts released earlier compared to last year, when will the government release the Departmental Results Reports for the last fiscal year?
Thank you, Senator Marshall, for your kind words. The public accounts in 2020-21, indeed, were tabled within legislative timelines. But as the honourable senator would know, and colleagues as well, I hope, over more than the last decade, in cases of a fall election, public accounts typically are tabled in December. This year, the public accounts were also revised due to a court decision on September 29. I am assured that the Auditor General reviewed the revision, and maintained an unmodified opinion.
My understanding, senator, is that the government is tracking to table the public accounts this fall.
Yes. What I was looking for, Senator Gold, is when will I get the Departmental Results Reports? I’m reviewing the public accounts, but I need the results reports to see — you match up the performance with the actual money that was spent. So that’s what I’m looking for: a date.
I appreciate that, and I apologize that I misunderstood the question. I’ll have to inquire about the dates, Senator Marshall. I’ll try to get an answer as quickly as possible.
