Subject Guides: Government Information: Federal Budgets & Accounts

Federal Budget Documents

The Budget is a blueprint for how the Government wants to set the annual economic agenda for Canada. And it's the job of the Department of Finance to prepare it. The budget, usually tabled early in the year, is generally preceded in the fall by another major statement, the Economic and Fiscal Update.

Government of Canada - Current Budget
Government of Canada - Archived Budgets (1968-2015)
Government of Canada - Budgets (1867-present)
Government of Canada - Fiscal Updates (1995-current)
The budget, usually tabled early in the year, is generally preceded in the fall by another major statement, the Update of Economic and Fiscal Projections.

Public Accounts

These annual reports are prepared by the Receiver General of Canada and provide detailed information about Federal government spending.

Note: Volume II includes departmental information.

Expenditure Management

Government of Canada Expenditure Management System
Government of Canada Expenditure Plan: Main Estimates (Parts I and II). 1996-
Part I of the Estimates process is the Government Expenditure Plan. It provides a summary and highlights of year-over-year changes in departmental spending and transfer payments in order to provide perspective on the major issues influencing government planned spending.

Part II is the Main Estimates, known traditionally as the “Blue Book.” It directly supports the appropriation acts for the Main Estimates. The publication provides a listing of the resources required by individual departments and agencies for the upcoming fiscal year in order to deliver the programs for which they are responsible. It identifies the spending authorities (votes) and the amounts to be included in subsequent appropriation bills that Parliament will be asked to approve to enable the government to proceed with its spending plans.
Government of Canada Expenditure Plan: Supplementary Estimates. 1996-
Supplementary Estimates present information to Parliament on the Government of Canada’s spending requirements that were not sufficiently developed in time for inclusion in the Main Estimates, and will from time to time include urgent but unforeseen expenditures, such as natural disasters.
Canada Expenditure Estimates 1873-1980
How Ottawa Spends
An annual review of the federal government’s spending and public policy prepared by the Carleton University School of Public Policy and Administration

Auditor General Reports

The OAG is responsible for conducting performance audits of federal departments and agencies, annual financial audits of the government’s financial statements, and special examinations and annual financial audits of Crown corporations.

Earlier paper Reports of the Auditor General of Canada to the House of Commons can be found in the Library Catalogue and Archive-It: