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.

Senator Marshall: I will mention another review. In Economic and Fiscal Update 2019, the government, once again, promised to launch a comprehensive review of government spending, this time saying it would result in $1.5 billion in annual savings. There is nothing to indicate that the review ever began. During a February 2020 Question Period, I asked for some basic information. I remember asking you the questions: Which programs will be reviewed? Were any outside consultants hired as part of the review? If so, how much did they cost? My questions were never answered.

The issue I have is that, in reviewing the budget, the estimated savings are used to reduce the government’s budgetary requirements and the projected deficit, so the deficit that’s projected is lower. If the savings don’t materialize, the actual deficit increases. That is what I’m interested in.

We’ve seen so many of these commitments in the budget. Why is the government continuing to make commitments in the budget to save money when they never seem to deliver on the commitment?