Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. The government’s budget is both a plan and a projection as to how it wants to provide for its operations going forward. It is responsible for governments to identify areas where savings are reasonably expected, and it is almost inevitable that life gets in the way sometimes — as the pandemic most certainly did in the period immediately preceding the questions in February 2020 to which you referred.

Hon. Elizabeth Marshall: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate and concerns the budget.

Senator Gold, last month the budget announced two spending reviews, which the government says will lead to $9 billion in savings over five years. In Budget 2017, the Trudeau government began what it called the comprehensive review of federal departments, “with the aim to eliminate poorly targeted and inefficient programs, wasteful spending, and ineffective and obsolete government initiatives.”

However, in 2018, instead of finding any savings, the review was used to justify new spending at Canada Border Services Agency and Health Canada — two of the three departments that had been subjected to the review. Government seems to have been very successful at spending money but not so successful at saving money.

Leader, can we expect that this upcoming expenditure review will be as ineffective as the past review?