NDP House Leader Joe Comartin said Parliament’s Board of Internal Economy has finished its examination of the House’s spending and the details will be announced when the federal budget is unveiled.
“There were some areas where there were significant cuts and others where there was none at all,” he said. “But on average it worked out to 6.75 or 6.85 per cent.”
Main estimates tabled recently by Treasury Board President Tony Clement allocate a $445.8 million budget to run the House of Commons in 2012-13. A 6.75 per cent cut would represent a $30 million drop.
However, Comartin said not all of the spending cuts will kick in right away.
“Not all of them are coming in this year. You won’t even see some of them. Some of them are further down the road.”
Unlike many government departments, the House of Commons voluntarily participated in the strategic and operating review, also known as the deficit reduction action plan, which is expected to cut between 5 and 10 per cent from overall government spending.
However, because its participation was voluntary, the House of Commons didn’t have to go through the same cabinet approval process as other areas of government.
Among the areas where the House of Commons plans to trim costs is the way it administers the MPs air travel, said Comartin. However, he said it won’t affect the ability of MPs to travel.
“That is one of the areas they have changed … there are quite significant savings. It’s one of those areas where when you see it you’ll say why weren’t we doing this before.”
“That’s one of the ones where not all the savings will come this year. There are contracts that will run out.”
In a previous interview, Comartin said staff cuts are inevitable. However, he cannot say exactly how many jobs on the Hill will be axed.
Printing is another area where the House of Commons will tighten its belt.
“There were printing savings that were kind of interesting,” Comartin said.
Some things the House of Commons was planning to spend money on are also being curtailed, he said.
“A number of the savings are things that were budgeted for and we actually never spent the full amount so there are some significant savings there.”
During recent committee hearings, Speaker Andrew Scheer was asked why Parliament doesn’t combine security forces to save money and improve efficiency. Currently, the House of Commons and the Senate each have their own separate and distinct security forces – each with jurisdiction over their portion of the Parliamentary precinct.
However, Comartin said combining security forces is not one of the measures the Board of Internal Economy adopted to cut spending.
“That wasn’t discussed. That will be coming further down the road. We have to hammer that out with the Senate.”
Nor are MPs pensions part of the House of Commons belt tightening since they fall under the Treasury Board, he said.
The results of the government’s belt tightening will be unveiled Thursday in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget. However, it could take months for the exact impact to be known and for it to translate into job cuts.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Elizabeth Thompson
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