MEREDITH: Dissecting Carneynomics - Part Two

The new timing of the budget might seem unimportant, but it will change public administration, implementation, budget deliverables and fiscal projections in significant ways.

Key points:

• Shifting the budget timeline could lead to improved public administration by allowing more time for pre-development work, potentially aligning supply cycles and program implementation. This could result in faster implementation and greater responsiveness.
• The revised timelines could create risks for the government in how the revised timelines impact budget planning itself.
• Changing the fiscal calendar has the potential to increase transparency and improve the capacity of public institutions to deliver, addressing criticisms of past Trudeau budgets.

My last post focused on the change to the federal Budget that PM Carney campaigned on in the last election — separating operating and capital spending. Today, I want to look at the second part of the recent announcement on Carney’s new budget framework: swapping the timing of the budget and the subsequent fiscal update.