Good, Bad, and Incomplete: Grading the Fiscal Transparency of Canada’s Senior Governments, 2021

Stars and Dogs: How Senior Governments Rank on Fiscal Transparency

• Financial reporting by Canada’s senior governments has improved over time, but setbacks and deficiencies threaten accountability to Canadians, says a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.
• Authors William B.P. Robson and Miles Wu present the C.D. Howe Institute’s latest annual report on the accessibility, timeliness and reliability of governments’ financial documents. The report’s grading reflects how well, or badly, federal, provincial and territorial budgets, estimates and financial statements let legislators and voters understand their governments’ fiscal plans and hold them to account.
• The report focuses on the budgets governments present around the start of the fiscal year, the estimates legislatures vote to approve specific program expenditures, and the audited financial statements governments present in their public accounts after year-end.