Impulse Spending: Canada’s 2011 Fiscal Accountability Ranking

Total budget overruns for Canadian federal, provincial and territorial governments amounted to $82 billion over the past decade, revealing a continuing lack of accountability to voters about budget promises, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Impulse Spending: Canada’s 2011 Fiscal Accountability Rankings,” authors Colin Busby and William Robson compare what legislators vote for at budget time with what their governments actually spend in the ensuing fiscal year. They identify the governments with the best and worst records at keeping their budget promises.

The Pinocchio Index