DND could receive biggest increase in federal funding

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks after a meeting of the federal cabinet, joined by Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali. Photo by Justin Tang /The Canadian PressArticle content

The Department of National Defence and the RCMP are among the government departments and agencies hoping to get significant boosts in funding this fiscal year.

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This week, the public got its first hints of the government’s spending plan, as Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali released what are known as the main estimates.

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On May 27, Ali tabled the main estimates in Parliament, which will have to approve them. The main estimates, which total $486.9 billion this year, are a breakdown of what the government hopes to spend in the fiscal year.

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This year, the estimates may help fill in some of the gaps of the government’s fiscal outlook after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new government delayed releasing a federal budget until the fall.

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Parliament will vote on the main estimates before the summer break. The federal government often updates the main estimates with what are called supplementary estimates, which will likely take place in the fall.

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In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know about the main estimates.

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What’s in the estimates?

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The spending ask from the Treasury Board this year is a jump from the level of spending in the main estimates tabled last year, which were $449.2 billion. However, it is in line with the final estimates ($486.7 billion) last fiscal year, after the supplementary ones were added.

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Notable spending jumps from the government’s 2024-2025 estimates to date include a $1.8 billion increase for DND from $33.9 billion to $35.7 billion, a $1-billion loan for Canada Post to maintain its solvency, a $252-million bump for the RCMP and $306 for the Canada Boarder Services Agency.

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Proposed cuts from the estimates to date included a $10.4-billion decrease to the Canada Revenue Agency, largely attributed to the repeal of consumer carbon pricing and a $1.2-billion cut to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada also saw decreases of $2.4 billion and $4.9 billion respectively.

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“I don’t think there are any surprises,” Mostafa Askari, chief economist for the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, said in a phone interview with the Ottawa Citizen.

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Askari said the main estimates are largely a snapshot of the changes that took place over the past year.

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He added that because the government is so new, anything “regarding new spending or new programs that would require Parliament’s approval, all that should be done in the supplementary estimates.”