Feds launch online tool to track their spendingBy: Staff Writer
Posted: 1:00 AM | Comments: 1
OTTAWA -- A new online tool aims to answer the eternal question posed by taxpayers:
Where does all the money go?
The federal government will spend $282.6 billion this year and a new searchable database puts all that spending at the same digital address for the first time in a bid to make it easier for politicians to keep track of the spending estimates they need to vote on.
"I think it's pretty clear, from talking to parliamentarians, that in today's day and age of complexity, they were finding it increasingly difficult to meet their roles and responsibilities of oversight, questioning, understanding and ultimately voting on government financial information and spending," Treasury Board President Tony Clement said Monday.
While the information was previously available, Clement noted that it could be "difficult and time consuming" to track down the documents.
All the numbers are now available through the Treasury Board of Canada's website at
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/ems-sgd/edb-bdd/index-eng.html. The site includes graphs, program comparisons between government organizations, and historical spending data from the last three years.
-- The Canadian Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 23, 2013 A11
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada ... 32631.html