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Federal departments left $8.7 billion unspent last year
But federal departments and agencies also chipped in by handing back an estimated $8.7 billion for different programs that had been requested — and in some cases publicly announced — by the government and approved by Parliament.
Speaking at an event in Kamloops, B.C., Harper seized on the surplus to bolster his economic credentials heading into the second half of this year’s marathon election campaign. He dismissed concerns about the unspent billions, including whether the measures may have pushed the economy back into recession.
Last year’s lapse, as unspent federal funds are called, was anything but normal. The Conservatives’ own budget plan in April, which projected only a $7.2-billion lapse, said government spending through February was “well below the historical average.” Spending to that point was also “at the lowest level in a decade.”
Federal departments left $8.7 billion unspent last year | Ottawa Citizen