QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Accounting Standards
November 5, 2025
Government leader, according to the C.D. Howe Institute, Ottawa’s new Capital Budgeting Framework is a major deviation from public sector accounting standards. The institute also notes that most of the spending now labelled “capital investment,” including infrastructure transfers and tax credits, has no corresponding capital asset on the government’s books. This directly contradicts the established accounting rules that ensure fiscal accuracy and comparability over time.
Leader, why is the government abandoning recognized accounting standards and substituting its own definitions, which conveniently make deficits appear smaller while its spending is no less costly?
There’s no trick in that. Budget 2025 introduced a new approach to budgeting. We are spending less on the day-to-day operations of government so we can invest more in Canadian industry and workers. This plan rests on two fiscal anchors that are very well explained in the budget. I can point these out in section 5, entitled “Economic Strength Through Fiscal Discipline.” The anchors are “Balancing day-to-day operating spending with revenues by 2028-29 . . .” and “Maintaining a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio . . .” which I explained to your colleague Senator Housakos earlier during Question Period.
Yes, I note that there’s a prop that the leader has used.
However, leader, creative accounting doesn’t make reckless spending more responsible; it just makes it harder for Canadians to see the truth. Will your government restore transparency by returning to proper public sector accounting standards so that Parliament and taxpayers can trust the numbers again?
I think that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance have an open approach: They are explaining how they want to change the way the government approaches balancing the operating spending with revenue as soon as the 2028-29 fiscal year and maintaining a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio to ensure disciplined fiscal management for future generations.
You’re wondering about future generations; that’s exactly what the government is doing.
