The Hill Times: PBO says budget uses ‘made-in-Ottawa’ definition of capital spending
Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer Jason Jacques warned MPs that “the government has come up with a ‘made-in-Ottawa’ definition of capital,” arguing that recent changes to spending categories and fiscal anchors require greater openness. He told the Finance Committee that it comes back to transparency, saying Parliament needs “a more open and clearer discussion” about how the government classifies investments. Jacques also noted that measures such as early-retirement programs and military recruitment “aren’t necessarily intuitively investments,” underscoring his call for an independent body to define spending categories.
