In 2016, just after the beginning of the 42^nd Parliament, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (the Committee) undertook a study to improve the estimates process. During the course of its study, the Committee held 11 meetings and heard from 31 witnesses. In addition, the Committee devoted six meetings, between April and June 2018, to examining the 2018–2019 Main Estimates, during which it considered recent changes to the estimates process.

The report of the Committee’s study examines the parliamentary financial cycle and the estimates process, as well as the alignment of the main estimates with the federal budget and the temporary changes made to achieve this alignment, including the new Treasury Board Central Vote 40 on budget implementation measures. It also reviews the accounting methods used in the main fiscal documents, the results of a pilot project on a purpose-based vote structure, and the departmental results framework.

The Committee identifies four main challenges with the current estimates process:

• the overall complexity of the process and the misalignment between the federal budget and the main estimates;
• the new budget implementation vote managed by the Treasury Board Secretariat;
• the lack of consistency in the accounting basis used in the federal budget, the estimates documents and the government’s financial statements; and
• the disconnect between appropriations and program objectives due to the nature of estimates votes, which are not purpose-based.

The Committee makes 12 recommendations in the report. Five of the recommendations address the above-mentioned challenges by proposing that:

• the Government of Canada present a concrete and detailed plan to table the budget and the main estimates concurrently, with consistent information;
• the Government of Canada reform its processes so that Cabinet and Treasury Board approval of budget measures are done in tandem in order for these measures to be included in the main estimates and to ensure the alignment of the budget and the main estimates;
• the relevant standing committees study measures included in the budget implementation vote presented in the main estimates for fiscal year 2019–2020, based on their mandates, and that during the standing committees’ studies of these main estimates, officials from the Treasury Board Secretariat accompany officials from the departments responsible for budget measures to ensure that parliamentarians receive meaningful insight into the new measures and their implementation;
• the Government of Canada conduct a pilot project by preparing the estimates appropriations of a selected department on an accrual basis; and
• the Government of Canada update its central financial management systems and introduce purpose-based votes to provide better information and control to parliamentarians.

Lastly, the Committee wishes to note that the new central budget implementation vote was created to ensure that all 2018 federal budget measures were included in the main estimates for 2018–2019, and to better align the budget and the main estimates. The Committee recognizes that fiscal year 2018–2019 is a transition year for the alignment of the federal budget and the main estimates. Therefore, Treasury Board had to develop special tools that would be in place temporarily to reach that objective, and the budget implementation vote was one of them. Going forward, however, the Committee believes that new central votes allocating significant funding to various departments and agencies should only be created in very special circumstances and Parliament should have sufficient time to closely scrutinize them before funds are allocated. The Committee is of the opinion that the government should work towards incorporating budget measures into the votes of relevant departments and agencies in the main estimates. To that end, it encourages the Department of Finance and the Treasury Board Secretariat to work together to establish a timeline that allows budget measures to obtain Cabinet approval and Treasury Board approval, and to be incorporated into the departments’ and agencies’ main estimates votes. It also believes that budget initiatives presented in the main estimates should be supported by information provided in departmental plans that can be scrutinized by parliamentarians.