Agriculture Canada has agreed to become more accountable to Parliament for money it sends to the provinces to help farmers.
Last week, federal auditor general Denis Desautels took the department to task for sending more than $400 million to provinces during the past year to help fund safety net “companion programs” without informing Parliament.
Under parliamentary rules, special measures funding is supposed to be referred to the House of Commons so MPs can examine the program and judge its appropriateness.
When cabinet agrees to send money to help fund provincial companion programs, the cabinet order authorizing the expenditure is supposed to be quickly tabled in Parliament.
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Millions without full disclosure
So far, Agriculture Canada has sent $415 million to the provinces and not a single order-in-council has been presented.
Desautels said parliamentary scrutiny of how these programs work will be useful when governments negotiate the next generation of farm safety nets in two years.
“We think Parliament needs a concise, complete listing that provides summary information about program objectives, costs, expected results, how results will be measured and completion dates,” he said in the report tabled in the Commons Dec. 2.
The department defended itself with the argument that it was waiting to have all companion program funding decided before it tabled a complete package of information.
However, some federal-provincial negotiations still are under way.
“In light of the concerns of the office of the auditor general, the department has initiated a process to table existing orders-in-council as soon as possible,” Agriculture Canada said in reaction to the criticism.
