Canada's Performance Report 2007-08: The Government of Canada's Contribution

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page

1 - Overview

Accountability is a key foundation of Canada's system of responsible government. It is the key to assuring Parliament—and, thereby, all Canadians—that the Government of Canada is using public resources efficiently and effectively. Accountability systems and structures ensure that the government is answerable for its actions.

Each year, federal departments submit departmental performance reports (DPR) summarizing their results in meeting the objectives outlined in their reports on plans and priorities (RPP). These two sets of documents help strengthen departmental accountability to Parliament by establishing a clear link between commitments and the progress made in delivering on them.

Canada's Performance 2007–08 is the eighth annual report to Parliament on the federal government's contribution to Canada's performance as a nation, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement.

As a companion piece to the collection of 91 individual DPRs for 2007–08, the purpose of Canada's Performance is to give parliamentarians and Canadians:

• a high-level overview of departments' and agencies' achievements;
• an understanding of how the performance of individual departments and agencies contributes to broader, government-wide outcomes in four spending areas: economic affairs, social affairs, international affairs, and government affairs;
• a whole-of-government view of planned and actual spending; and
• a snapshot of which organizations contribute to which outcome areas.

Canada's Performance seeks to provide both a financial analysis of federal spending and a qualitative analysis of the Government of Canada's achievements. As such, the discussion of each outcome area contains a section relating to each of these.

The electronic version of this report links to the Government of Canada Planning and Performance Gateway, which serves as an online road map to the spending, planning, and performance information contained in DPRs and RPPs. In the print version of the report, each hyperlink is illustrated by the mouse symbol.

The Whole-of-Government Framework

Serving as a guide to the 91 DPRs, this report is organized according to a whole-of-government framework that helps parliamentarians and Canadians locate and integrate information of interest to them on federal government policies, programs, and activities. The framework also gives parliamentarians and Canadians a whole-of-government perspective on planned and actual spending.

Figure 1.1 illustrates the whole-of-government framework and how to use this document. You can identify a broad spending area of interest, such as economic affairs—shown on the left-hand side of the figure. Then you can explore an area of more direct interest (e.g. the federal government's expenditures in "strong economic growth" or its current commitments in that particular area). Within that area you can determine which departments, agencies, and Crown corporations have strategic outcomes¹ and program activities² in that outcome area and refer to those organizations' reports.

Figure 1.1 - Text Version

Information on Canada's current socio-economic trends

This report includes societal indicators that provide an assessment of quality of life in Canada and a context for federal government expenditures. The societal indicators are drawn from recognized data sources, including the Census of Canada, general social surveys by Statistics Canada, public opinion polls, and reports from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This year, Canada's Performance also links to Human Resources and Social Development Canada's Indicators of Well-being in Canada website.

Not all societal indicators are updated annually; therefore, some indicators contain data several years old.

A legend of the symbols used in this report is shown below.

Overview of the Government of Canada's actual spending 2007–08

In 2007–08, a total of 129 federal organizations provided programming and services toward results for Canadians in economic, social, international, and government affairs. Total expenses, as presented in the Public Accounts of Canada 2008 (Volume I, Section 2) for the 2007–08 fiscal year, reached a total of approximately $232.8 billion.

Actual spending for the Government of Canada includes $33.3 billion in public debt servicing—money borrowed by the central government over the years that has not yet been repaid to the lenders. Actual spending also includes Consolidated Specified Purpose Account expenditures, the largest of which is Employment Insurance (approximately $14.3 billion), which has been aligned under the income security and employment for Canadians outcome area.

Table 1 gives an overview of the government's planned and actual spending by outcome and spending area for 2007–08. The whole-of-government framework is applied to all program spending made by the Government of Canada.

Approximately $107.1 billion of federal funds were dedicated to Economic Affairs. Actual spending for Economic Affairs includes $25.7 billion in transfer payments to the provinces and territories (excluding the Canada Health Transfer).

Total actual spending for the government in the area of Social Affairs during the 2007–08 fiscal year was $45.9 billion, which includes $21.5 billion for the Canada Health Transfer.

The government's actual spending in the area of International Affairs for the 2007–08 fiscal year was $26.9 billion.

Finally, a total of $13.4 billion was spent in the area of Government Affairs by several departments and agencies that help other federal organizations meet their responsibilities and serve Canadians better.

Figure 1.2—An overview of the Government of Canada's actual spending for the 2007–08 fiscal year

Figure 1.2 - Text version

Partnering for success

The Government of Canada recognizes that it is only one of many entities that shape Canadian society and that quality of life depends on many factors. For this reason, the federal government partners with other levels of government, private and voluntary sectors, non-governmental organizations, and individuals to achieve the best possible social, economic, and environmental outcomes for Canadians.

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page