Feds’ spending to start year hits highest mark in at least six years: report
OTTAWA — Federal spending under the Liberal government kicked off the fiscal year by hitting its highest mark in at least six years, says a new analysis by the budget watchdog.
But some of the spending came from leftover commitments made by the previous Conservative government, the parliamentary budget officer’s report said Thursday.
Jean-Denis Frechette found that expenditures under the Trudeau government were 5.7 per cent higher — nearly $3.4 billion — in the first quarter of 2016-17, compared with the same period from the previous year.
Ottawa’s first-quarter spending reached $62.9 billion, while over the same three-month period last year the government paid out about $59.5 billion, the analysis found.