Category : National Finance

To assist parliamentarians in their pre-budget deliberations, this report identifies key issues arising from the Government’s Fall Economic Statement published on 21 November 2018.

Consistent with the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s legislated mandate, this report provides PBO’s economic and fiscal outlook.

This report provides PBO’s assessment of the sustainability of government finances over the long term for the federal government, subnational governments and public pension plans.

This report a status update on Phase 1 of the Government’s Investing in Canada Plan, which was announced in Budget 2016 and intended to provide a short-term economic boost to the economy.

Consistent with the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s legislated mandate, this report provides PBO’s economic and fiscal outlook.

Recent changes to the Financial Administration Act require the Government of Canada to seek parliamentary approval to borrow in debt markets. The Government has done so with the Borrowing Authority Act, which came into force on 23 November 2017.

This report was prepared to address two areas of confusion that have arisen in committees and debates following Budget 2018:

1. How was this new debt aggregate calculated?
2. How should it be used to scrutinize government borrowing?

This report responds to a request of Mr. Pierre Poilievre (Carleton–CPC) to estimate the cost of establishing a guaranteed basic income program at the national level. PBO takes the policy parameters of Ontario’s basic income pilot project and applies them across the country to estimate the cost of a guaranteed basic income (GBI), and then compares the estimated cost to the current federal support for low income. The annual gross cost of expanding the Ontario Basic Income Pilot across the country would amount to an estimated $76.0 billion in 2018-2019. By 2022-2023, it would reach nearly $79.5 billion.

This report provides status report on Phase 1 of the Government’s New Infrastructure Plan, which was announced in Budget 2016 and intended to stimulate economic growth over the short-term. 

This report provides a long-term scenario analysis of the three largest federal transfers:  Equalization, the Canada Health Transfer and the Canada Social Transfer.

This report examines federal personnel spending, including: (i) recent trends in spending on federal personnel , (ii) PBO’s medium-term forecast for personnel spending  and (iii) analysis of important cost drivers underlying PBO’s personnel forecast.