In a recently published report, Desjardins deputy chief economist Randall Bartlett, said the new commitments add $40 billion in extra spending over the next decade, beyond what was announced in the last fiscal update in April.
“A lot of it seemed to be from previous envelopes, but some of it doesn’t all seem to be accounted for,” he said.
Bartlett pointed out his estimate of unaccounted spending is based on incomplete information, because the federal government has not been transparent on how it plans to pay for these measures.
For example, when it comes to financing a new pipeline project, it’s not immediately clear how much of the funding burden will be placed on the federal government through the federally owned Trans Mountain Corp., compared to the Alberta government.
“I think that lack of transparency is very concerning because it all points to high and rising debt levels, and I’m not really sure what sort of restraint outside of reductions to the public service are being shown right now, and what sort of analysis is going into funding these projects,” he said.