Policy change and implementation generally require spending commitments. The process may be broken down into the Business of Ways and Means where the government sets out its economic policy (through the presentation of a budget) and obtains parliamentary approval to raise the necessary revenues and the Business of Supply where the government submits its projected annual expenditures for parliamentary approval and the House of Commons authorizes both the amounts and the objects or destination of all public expenditures. The following budget and expenditure documents and documents families are useful in researching government policy.
The federal Budget is a policy document in which the government announces proposed spending and other initiatives, and provides fforecasts for the coming years. It is usually tabled in the House of Commons in January, February or March. The Budget does not authorize spending or changes in taxation.They must be enacted separately via legislation, for instance: appropriation bills, which authorize the federal government to spend money , ways and means bills, which authorize changes to federal revenue collection through taxation and other means and budget implementation bills. The latter are important to policy researchers are they implement measures announced in the budget, essentially laying the administrative and legal groundwork for spending.
Budget Implementation Acts lay the groundwork for government spending. If laws need to be changed, government agencies created, merged, or eliminated to enable the government to carry out measures promised in the budget, they are done via Implementation Acts.
An Appropriation Bill (also called a Supply Bill and, sometimes, a Money Bill) is the vehicle whereby Parliament authorizes expenditures to pay for government programmes and services. The Estimates provide a detailed breakdown and are tabled in Parliament in three parts:
Note: Supplementary Estimates are sometimes tabled through the year to address changes due to changes in policy and unforeseen circumstances.
Once the Estimates are tabled, the numbered Votes in Part II are sent to Standing Committees for consideration. The Committees are designated according to their area of responsibility. The Standing Committee on Health, for instance, currently receives the Votes and related documents (DPRs, RPPs, etc) for the Department of Health, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and others. THe Committees study the Votes and documents and report back with their recommendations, if any. During the process, they may hold hearings and receive testimony from external parties.
Determining which Committees receive which Votes:
The following table lists the more prominent departments and the Committees to which their Votes are currently sent. Note: This can and does change from Session to Session. If the table does not yield the information sought, follow the instructions below.
| House of Commons Standing Committee | Departments and Agencies |
|---|---|
| Agriculture and Agri-Food |
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| Canadian Heritage |
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| Citizenship and Immigration |
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| Environment and Sustainable Development |
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| Finance |
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| Health |
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| Human Resources, Skills, and Social Development |
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| Industry, Science and Technology |
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| Natural Resources |
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| Public Safety and National Security |
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| Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities |
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A variety of accounts and reports are produced to track and evaluate government spending. The most important include: