OTTAWA — The Liberal government is facing criticism for its fiscal accountability as it prepares to release its next budget in the coming weeks. A report from the C.D. Howe Institute, set to be published Thursday, assigns a “D” grade to the federal government, citing significant issues with timeliness and transparency.

The report highlights that the government has not yet produced a budget for the current fiscal year, which is already halfway through. This delay has contributed to the poor grade. Additionally, the report criticizes the government for obscuring important financial data, stating that key figures are “buried hundreds of pages deep in its budget,” along with inconsistent accounting practices and delayed financial statements.

This marks the lowest grade the government has received in the last five years in the institute's annual assessment. The report also notes that the government failed to present consolidated expenses and showed a considerable discrepancy between projected and actual financial results.

Looking ahead, the C.D. Howe Institute warns that the government may receive an even lower grade of “F” for its fiscal performance in 2025-26. The report states, “The federal government’s announcement of a budget in November of 2025 means it has effectively produced no budget for this year.”

The report does not only focus on the federal government. It also evaluates other jurisdictions, revealing that Manitoba and the Northwest Territories received even lower grades of D-. In contrast, Alberta was recognized as a leader in fiscal accountability, earning an A+ for adhering to public sector accounting standards, releasing public accounts promptly, and providing regular updates throughout the year.

Quebec followed closely with a B+, while several provinces, including Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Yukon, and Nunavut, all received a B. Ontario scored a B-, and Newfoundland and Labrador received a C.

The C.D. Howe Institute's report emphasizes that its analysis is not about whether governments are managing taxpayer dollars responsibly or running deficits. Instead, it assesses the accessibility of information regarding government spending plans for citizens, reporters, and legislators. The report argues that Canadians should not need to be experts in financial documents to understand how their tax dollars are being utilized.

“The user of those documents should be able to see what that government plans to do before the year starts,” the report explains, “and to compare that with what it did shortly after the year has ended.”

This is not the first time the C.D. Howe Institute has raised concerns about the federal government's fiscal performance. In July, the institute warned that the government is projected to face a deficit exceeding $92 billion for the current fiscal year, nearly double the earlier forecast from a non-partisan government body. If realized, this would mark the second-largest deficit in Canadian history, surpassed only by the $327.7 billion deficit recorded during the pandemic year of 2020-21.

A spokesperson for Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne was not available for comment at the time of this report.