Government departments in Canada are breaking the law by refusing to provide details of government spending, according to a recent legal opinion, reports Global Legal Post.
Toronto-based The Star newspaper reports that Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page has also warned that the government’s unwillingness to provide the information could see the dispute end in the country’s federal court.
The argument is part of a long-running problem that commentators suggest the Conservative government made for itself by creating the parliamentary watchdog role to provide “objective analysis” of federal finances.
The legal opinion – written by Joseph Magnet, a constitutional lawyer and professor at the University of Ottawa, and Tolga Yalkin, a lawyer and professor who works in the budget office – argues that deputy ministers are required to provide financial information.
“No legal exception to this requirement has been advanced and none appears from the analysis of the correspondence exchanged,” they write. “Accordingly, the non-compliant departments have statutory obligations to provide the information.”
Opposition MPs were keen to twist the knife, with New Democratic Party leader Thomas Mulcair saying in the Commons: “Once again the Conservatives are trying to hide the truth about their Trojan Horse budget. By hiding this information, the Conservatives are knowingly violating the law.”