ARCHIVED - 2008-09 Main Estimates Part II
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The Main Estimates
Structure of the Main
Estimates
Presentation by Ministry, Department and
Agency
Crown Corporations
Definitions of Standard Objects of
Expenditure
General
Summary
Budgetary Main Estimates by
Standard Object of Expenditure
Items for inclusion in the Proposed
Schedule to the Appropriation Bill
Statutory Items in Main
Estimates
Changes to
Presentation
Changes to Government Organization
and Structure
Changes in Authorities
(Votes/Statutory Items)
Changes in Presentation (Strategic
Outcomes, Program Activity Descriptions)
The purpose of these Estimates is to present to
Parliament information in support of budgetary and non-budgetary
spending authorities that will be sought through Appropriation
bills. These authorities are divided into two categories -
Voted and Statutory. Voted authorities are those for which the
government must seek Parliament's approval annually through an
Appropriation Act. The wording and expenditure authority
attributable to each Vote appears in a schedule attached to the
Appropriation Act. Once approved, the Vote wording and approved
amounts become the governing conditions under which these
expenditures may be made; it does not create a commitment to
spend the entire amount. Individual expenditure proposals
included in Votes seek authority to make expenditures necessary
to deliver various mandates that are under the administration of
a Minister and are contained in legislation approved by
Parliament. Statutory authorities are those that Parliament has
approved through other legislation that sets out both the purpose
of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they
may be made.
Statutory spending is included in the Estimates for
information only.
The basic structural units of
Part
II
are the Votes and Statutory items that, in total,
comprise the proposed expenditures under each department or
agency.
The following kinds of Votes appear in the
Estimates:
-
Program Expenditures Vote
- This type of
Vote is used when there is no requirement for either a separate
“capital expenditures” Vote or a “grants and
contributions” Vote because neither equals or exceeds $5
million. In this case, all expenditures are charged to the one
Vote.
-
Operating Expenditures Vote
- This type of
Vote is used when there is a requirement for either a
“capital expenditures” Vote or a “grants and
contributions” Vote or both; that is, when expenditures
of either type equal or exceed $5 million. Where they do not,
the appropriate expenditures are included in the “Program
Expenditures” Vote.
-
Capital Expenditures Vote
- This type of
Vote is used when capital expenditures equal or exceed $5
million. Expenditure items in a “capital
expenditures” Vote would include items expected to exceed
$10,000 for the acquisition of land, buildings and works
(standard object 8), as well as the acquisition of machinery
and equipment (standard object 9), or for purposes of
constructing or creating assets, where a department expects to
draw upon its own labour and materials, or employs consultants
or other services or goods (standard objects 1 to 9). Different
threshold limits may be applied for different capital
expenditure classes at the departmental level.
-
Grants and Contributions Vote
- This type of
Vote is used when grants and contributions expenditures equal
or exceed $5 million. It should be noted that the inclusion of
a grant, contribution or other transfer payment item in the
Estimates imposes no requirement to make a payment, nor does it
give a prospective recipient any right to the funds. It should
also be noted that in the Vote wording, the meaning of the word
"contributions" is considered to include "other transfer
payments" because of the similar characteristics of each.
-
Non-Budgetary Vote
- This type of Vote,
identified by the letter "L", provides authority for spending
in the form of loans or advances to, and investments in, Crown
corporations; and loans or advances for specific purposes to
other governments, international organizations or persons or
corporations in the private sector.
-
Special Votes: Crown Corporation Deficits and Separate
Legal Entities -
Where it is necessary to
appropriate funds for a payment to a Crown corporation or for
the expenditures of a legal entity that is part of a larger
program, a separate Vote is established. Where this is the
case, a separate Vote structure is established for each. A
legal entity for these purposes is defined as a unit of
government operating under an Act of Parliament and responsible
directly to a Minister.
-
Special Votes: Treasury Board Centrally Financed Votes
-
To support the Treasury Board in performing its
statutory responsibilities for managing the government's
financial, human and materiel resources, a number of special
authorities are required and these are outlined below:
-
Government Contingencies Vote - This Vote serves to
supplement other appropriations and to provide for
miscellaneous, urgent or unforeseen expenditures not
otherwise provided for, including grants and contributions
not listed in the Estimates and the increase of the amount of
grants listed in these, where those expenditures are within
the legal mandate of a government organization, and authority
to re-use any sums allotted and repaid to this appropriation
from other appropriations.
-
Government-Wide Initiatives Vote - This Vote
supplements other appropriations in support of the
implementation of strategic management initiatives in the
Public Service of Canada.
-
Public Service Insurance Vote - This Vote provides
for the payment of the employer's share of health,
income maintenance and life insurance premiums; for payments
to or in respect of provincial health insurance plans;
provincial payroll taxes; pension, benefit and insurance
plans for employees engaged locally outside Canada; and to
return to certain employees their share of the unemployment
insurance premium reduction.
-
Operating Budget Carry Forward Vote - This Vote
supplements other appropriations for the operating budget
carry forward from the previous fiscal year.
-
Paylist Requirements Vote - This Vote supplements
other appropriations for requirements related to parental and
maternity allowances, entitlements on cessation of service or
employment and adjustments made to terms and conditions of
service or employment of the public service including members
of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Forces,
where these have not been provided from the Compensation
Adjustments Vote.
The activities for the departments and agencies for
which a Minister is responsible, or reports to Parliament, are
grouped together to provide a total ministry presentation. The
ministries are then arranged alphabetically to make up the
complete Main Estimates. Ministries of State, which may be formed
under authority of the
Government Organization Act
,
1970, involve a more restrictive meaning of the term Ministry
than that used here. Ministries of State are treated as
departments for presentation purposes in these Estimates.
Each ministry presentation begins with a Ministry
Summary table that shows, by Vote or Statutory item, the amount
included in the Main Estimates for all organizations comprising
that ministry. Abbreviated wordings are used in this table.
All Estimates data shown for the previous year are
taken from the Main Estimates of that year. This ensures that all
financial information is displayed on a consistent year-over-year
basis. Where necessary, adjustments are made to the previous year
amounts to reflect changes in organizational structure including
changes in ministerial responsibility, to provide a more relevant
basis for comparison.
Although the Main Estimates presentation remains
virtually unchanged, the new Expenditure Management Information
System (EMIS) which is used to capture data electronically
utilizes the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). As
a result, the detail in some tables may not add to the totals due
to rounding.
In general, the individual organizational
presentation is made up of four sections, as explained below.
Where a section is not appropriate, it does not appear in the
presentation.
Strategic Outcome
This section provides a statement of the strategic
outcome.
Program Activity Description
This section serves to explain the program
activities by describing how they contribute to the achievement
of the strategic outcome(s).
The Program by Activities Table
This table shows the total financial resources
proposed by program activity. The amounts of the Voted and
Statutory authorities are combined and distributed across each
program activity. Expenditures for each activity are presented
under the headings of Operating; Capital; Grants; Contributions
and other transfer payments; and Loans, Investments and Advances.
Revenues credited to the Vote, for those departments and agencies
authorized to do so, and revenues associated with revolving funds
are also included in this table.
Receipts credited to general non-tax revenue and
services provided without charge by other government departments
are shown in the
Report on Plans and
Priorities.
Transfer Payments
This table provides additional detail on the
transfer payments. A transfer payment is a grant, contribution or
other payment made for the purpose of furthering program
objectives but for which no goods or services are received.
Grants, contributions and other transfer payments
differ in several respects:
-
contributions are conditional payments and subject to
audit whereas grants are not;
-
contributions require an arrangement between the
recipient and the donor identifying the terms and conditions
governing their payment while grants do not;
-
other transfer payments are payments based on legislation
or an arrangement which normally includes a formula or
schedule of payments as one element used to determine the
annual amount; and
-
Grants and their total values have a legislative
character and specific descriptions that govern their
use.
Revolving Funds
A revolving fund is a continuing or non-lapsing authorization by
Parliament to make payments out of the
Consolidated Revenue Fund up to a stipulated limit. As part of
this authorization, expenditure requirements are
offset, to the extent possible, by revenues generated.
The general principle followed in
Part
II
of the Estimates is to provide information related to
operations being
funded through appropriations, rather than on the corporate
financial plan in its entirety. The Summaries of
corporate plans and budgets, tabled separately, are intended to
be the source of more detailed information for the
use of parliamentarians in their review of Crown corporations'
spending.
All Crown corporations for which appropriations are being
requested have a separate presentation consisting of
three standard sections:
Strategic Outcome
This section describes the strategic outcomes of the Crown
corporation.
Program Activity Descriptions
This section outlines the major activities for which funding
through appropriations is requested.
Program by Activities table
This table provides details of financial
requirements to be met through appropriations. The presentation
separates and identifies:
-
budgetary and non-budgetary funding according to
the major activities of the corporation;
-
the amount of budgetary funding required for operating
purposes, acquisition of fixed assets and other non-current
assets; and
-
the planned expenses, revenues and non-cash or other
adjustments upon which the funding required for operating
purposes is based.
To determine and report more accurately the impact
of government revenues and expenditures on the rest of the
economy, the net amount of government purchases and sales by
standard object must be determined. All departments, including
those that use revolving funds, must charge their expenditures
for purchases to standard object expenditure categories. Standard
objects are the highest level of expenditure classification used
for Parliamentary and executive purposes, and are reported in the
Main and Supplementary Estimates and the Public Accounts. The
standard objects of expenditure are as follows:
-
Personnel
-
Transportation and Communications
-
Information
-
Professional and Special Services
-
Rentals
-
Purchased Repair and Maintenance
-
Utilities, Materials and Supplies
-
Acquisition of Land, Buildings, and Works
-
Acquisition of Machinery and Equipment
-
Transfer Payments
-
Public Debt Charges
-
Other Subsidies and Payments
Information is also provided on revenues credited
to the Vote. In certain specific situations, Parliament
authorizes departments or agencies to spend revenues generated
from their operations in the same manner as any funds
appropriated through that Vote (as reflected in the Vote
wording). These amounts offset planned expenditures shown in
standard objects 1 through 12, which are shown on a gross
basis.
A brief explanation of each standard object
follows:
1.
Personnel
-
Salaries and wages, overtime, severance pay, retroactive
pay and other special pay of civilian continuing (full-time) or
term (part-time, seasonal and casual) employees except those of
agency and proprietary Crown corporations, as well as members
of the military and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
-
Judges' salaries, those of the Governor General, the
Lieutenant-Governors and the indemnities to Members of both
Houses of Parliament, and all types of allowances paid to or in
respect of continuing and term employees (such as living,
terminable, foreign service, isolated post, board and
subsistence allowances, shift differential allowances for
assistants, and other such allowances).
-
Ministers' motor car allowances, and the expense
allowances to Senators and Members of the House of
Commons.
-
The government's contribution to various employee
benefit plans (the Public Service Superannuation Account, the
Supplementary Retirement Benefits Account, the Canada Pension
Plan Account, the Quebec Pension Plan, the Public Service Death
Benefit Account and the Employment Insurance Account).
-
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Account,
the Canadian Forces Superannuation Account and the Members of
Parliament Retiring Allowances Account, and the
Government's contribution to provincial and other medical
and hospital insurance plans and supplementary personnel costs
for various purposes.
2.
Transportation and Communications
-
Traveling and transportation expenses of government
employees, members of the Canadian Forces and the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police, removal expenses of those persons and
their dependants, and living and other expenses of such persons
on travel status, judges' traveling expenses, and
traveling expenses and allowances payable to Senators and
Members of the House of Commons.
-
Transportation of persons by contract and chartered
facilities or by other means (including traveling expenses of
persons engaged in field survey work, inspections and
investigations), and traveling and transportation of
non-Government employees such as travel costs of veterans who
are applicants for treatment or pensions.
-
Ordinary postage, airmail, registered mail, parcel post
special delivery mail, post office box rentals, and any other
postal charges.
-
Expenditures relating to the transportation of goods other
than initial delivery cost on a purchase (which is included in
the standard object covering the cost of the purchase itself)
including charges for courier services provided by outside
carriers.
-
All costs of telecommunication services by telephone,
telegram, cable, teletype, radio and wireless communication
(tolls, rates, etc.) and other communication costs such as
courier services provided by outside agencies and communication
services performed under contract or agreement.
3.
Information
-
Advertising services acquired for publicity and general
purposes from advertising agencies or directly for time on
broadcast media or for space in print media or on outdoor
posters or billboards. It includes advertising and creative
work services such as graphic artwork.
-
Publishing services for commissioning, marketing,
distribution and sales of publications sponsored by the
department, and for the acquisition of related government
publications. Also included are services for printing,
duplicating, photocopying, text editing, design of graphics,
art work, technical and advisory services such as computerized
text processing and mass transmission of printed material. In
addition, it includes exposition services such as exhibits and
associated audio-visual services related to exhibitions and
displays.
-
Public relations and public affairs services for attitude
and service assessment surveys, sales promotion, marketing,
export marketing, public relations and publicity, opinion
polls, and contracts to organize and operate focus groups and
media monitoring services. It also includes services for speech
writing, press releases, briefing, press conferences and
special events.
4.
Professional and Special Services
-
Provision for all professional services performed by
individuals or organizations such as payments (in the nature of
fees, commissions, etc.) for the services of accountants,
lawyers, architects, engineers, scientific analysts, reporters,
and translators; for teachers at various levels of educational
institutions; for doctors, nurses and other medical personnel;
for management, data processing and other research consultants;
and for other outside technical, professional and other expert
assistance.
-
Payments for hospital treatment, care of veterans and
welfare services, payments for the provision of informatics
services, payment of tuition for Indians at non-federal
schools, purchase of training services under the
Adult
Occupational Training Act
, and payments made to the
Canada School of Public Service for training.
-
Payments for Corps of Commissionaires services and
for other operational and maintenance services performed under
contract, such as armoured cars, laundry and dry cleaning,
cleaning of buildings, temporary help, hospitality, storage and
warehousing, and other business services, as well as payments
made to the Department of Public Works and Government Services
for contract administration.
5.
Rentals
-
Rental of properties required for special purposes by the
various departments and for the accommodation of government
offices and services by the Department of Public Works and
Government Services.
-
Hire and charter - with or without crew - of
vessels, aircraft, motor vehicles and other equipment, and
rental of telecommunication and office equipment including
computers.
-
Storage and warehousing services is, however, in standard
object 4 even though it involves the rental of space.
6.
Purchased Repair and Maintenance
-
The repair and upkeep under contract of the durable
physical assets provided for in standard object 8 for
Acquisition of Land, Buildings, and Works and of equipment
provided for in standard object 9 for Acquisition of Machinery
and Equipment.
-
Payments to the Department of Public Works and Government
Services for tenant services.
-
Materials, supplies and other charges for repairs
undertaken by a department directly are coded to other objects,
according to the nature of the purchase.
7.
Utilities, Materials and Supplies
-
The provision for all payments for services of a type
normally provided by a municipality, or public utility service
such as the supply of water, electricity, gas, etc., and
includes water, light, power and gas services, and payment for
such services whether obtained from the municipality or
elsewhere.
-
The provision for materials and supplies required for
normal operation and maintenance of government services such
as:
-
gasoline and oil purchased in bulk; fuel for ships,
planes, transport and heating
-
feed for livestock
-
food and other supplies for ships and other
establishments
-
livestock purchased for ultimate consumption or
resale
-
seed for farming operations
-
books and other publications purchased for outside
distribution
-
uniforms and kits
-
photographs, maps and charts purchased for administrative
and operational purposes
-
laboratory and scientific supplies, including samples for
testing
-
drafting, blueprinting and artists' supplies;
supplies for surveys and investigations;
-
chemicals
-
hospital, surgical and medical supplies
-
works of art for exhibits, and historical material for
galleries, museums and archives
-
char service supplies - coal and wood
-
electrical supplies
-
repair parts other than parts normally acquired with
equipment at the time of purchase for aircraft, ships, road
vehicles, and for communication and other equipment; and all
other materials and supplies.
8.
Acquisition of Land, Buildings, and
Works
-
All expenditures for the acquisition of buildings, roads,
irrigation works, canals, airports, wharves, bridges and other
such types of fixed assets.
-
Improvements involving additions or changes of a structural
nature, and for installing fixed equipment which is essentially
a part of the work or structure such as elevators, heating and
ventilating equipment.
-
All reconstruction of such types of physical assets and
such projects performed under contract or agreement.
-
The purchase of land.
Expenditures pursuant to contracts for new construction for
casual employees hired or continuing employees assigned to work
full-or part-time on specified projects, travel, professional
services, equipment rentals, equipment maintenance and of
materials purchased directly for use on such projects are charged
to the relevant standard objects (standard object 1 to 9).
9.
Acquisition of Machinery and Equipment
-
Expenditures for the acquisition of all machinery,
equipment, office furniture and furnishings, electronic data
processing and electronic or other office equipment.
-
Microfilming equipment and supplies, inter-office
communication equipment, postal meter machines, machine records
and all other office equipment.
-
Motor vehicles, aeroplanes, tractors, road equipment,
telecommunications and related equipment, laboratory and other
scientific equipment, vessels, icebreakers and other aids to
navigation and all other types of light and heavy equipment;
includes ammunition and various types of equipment for National
Defence, such as ships, aircraft, mechanical equipment,
fighting vehicles, weapons, engines and such spare parts and
supplies as are normally acquired with that equipment at the
time of purchase.
10.
Transfer Payments
-
Grants, contributions, subsidies and all other transfer
payments made by government.
-
Major social assistance payments made to persons such as
Old Age Security benefits and related allowances,
Veterans' pensions and allowances.
-
Subsidies and payments to the provinces and territories
under the
Constitution Acts
, the
Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act
, the
Canada Health and Social Transfers and for official
languages.
-
Payments to Indians and Inuit in support of self-government
initiatives, health, educational, social and community
development programming and in respect of native claims.
-
Payments to the territorial governments pursuant to
financing agreements entered into between the Minister of
Finance and the respective territorial Minister of
Finance.
-
Subsidies and capital assistance to industry; research
grants and other assistance towards research carried on by
nongovernmental organizations; scholarships.
-
Sustaining grants to many national and international
non-profit organizations.
-
Contributions to international organizations and
assessments for membership in such organizations, such as the
contribution to the International Food Aid Program and
Canada's assessment for membership in the United
Nations.
Most of the payments in this standard object
category are identified in the Estimates as “Grants”
or “Contributions”. The former are not subject to
audit and are therefore restricted by Parliament as to amount and
recipient and often as to purpose through the approval of the
Supply bill which specifies “The grants listed in the
Estimates”; the latter are conditional and subject to audit
and are not so restricted. Grants and their total values have a
legislative character and specific descriptions that govern their
use. Grants are also presented in Part III of the Estimates by
Program Activity for information purposes.
11.
Public Debt Charges
-
Interest on the unmatured debt of Canada (including
Treasury Bills) and on other liabilities such as trust and
other special funds.
-
The cost of issuing new loans, amortization of bond
discount, premiums and commissions.
-
The cost of servicing and administering the Public
Debt.
12.
Other Subsidies and Payments
-
Payments to Crown corporations that include those made to
provide for operating deficits as well as other transfers paid
to Crown corporations.
-
Payments to certain non-budgetary accounts (such as the
government contributions to agricultural commodities
stabilization accounts, as well as benefits under the
Veterans Land Act),
as well as the write- offs of
various types of losses, the annual adjustment of reserves for
financial claims and some other miscellaneous items referred to
as “Sundries”.
Miscellaneous expenditures include licences,
permits and payments for dockage, towage, wharfage and mooring
privileges; bonding of government employees, loss of personal
effects, and expenditures for small miscellaneous articles and
services. Also included are many small items and services that do
not lend themselves to identification under specific headings
detailed in this summary.
Expenditures internal to the
government
Expenditures from internal sources include payments
for the costs of goods and services provided by other departments
or within a department or by revolving funds.
Revenues Credited to the Vote
Revenues that are credited to the Vote in
accordance with parliamentary authority include a combination of
revenues from external and internal sources. Revenues from
external sources include:
-
rentals received on government-owned buildings and
equipment;
-
receipts from the provision of police services to other
levels of government;
-
receipts of revolving funds as a result of transactions
with parties outside the government; and
-
recoveries of costs from provincial governments and other
national governments.
Revenues from internal sources include recoveries
of costs of goods or services provided by one organization to
another and the proceeds of sales by revolving funds to parties
internal to government.